How do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth differ in Macbeth?

Although Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both ambitious and desire to attain the throne, Macbeth initially hesitates to take action and is reluctant to follow through with the assassination. In act 1, scene 7, Macbeth contemplates the murder and has several reservations about committing the heinous crime. Macbeth informs his wife that they will "proceed no further in this business" and refuses to assassinate King Duncan. Unlike her husband, Lady Macbeth is significantly more resolute and callous towards the beginning of the play. She even calls upon evil spirits to "unsex" her and is prepared to help Macbeth commit regicide. When Macbeth acts timid, Lady Macbeth responds by questioning his masculinity and assuring him that they will succeed.

Initially, Duncan's assassination negatively affects Macbeth's mental stability, and he begins experiencing auditory hallucinations. Macbeth immediately regrets murdering the king and refuses to reenter Duncan's chamber. Once again, Lady Macbeth displays her bold personality by placing the daggers back to the chamber. When Macbeth laments his blood-stained hands, Lady Macbeth responds by saying,

My hands are of your color, but I shame
To wear a heart so white (2.2.78–79).

As the play progresses, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth switch roles, and Macbeth transforms into a cruel tyrant while Lady Macbeth gradually loses her mind. Following King Duncan's assassination, Macbeth develops into a calculating tyrant, who commissions the murders of Banquo, Fleance, and Macduff's entire family. Macbeth acts independently and is confident that he cannot be defeated. In contrast, Lady Macbeth experiences the crippling guilt of murdering King Duncan, begins to sleepwalk, and also hallucinates. It is implied that Lady Macbeth commits suicide, while Macbeth chooses to die in "valiant fury."

How do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth differ in Macbeth?

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth complement one another perfectly.  Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both ambitious, but Lady Macbeth is more of a planner.  Macbeth wants things, but does not want to work for them.  Lady Macbeth is willing to do the thinking and preparation, but she does not want to actually carry out the deed.  For that she needs Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth immediately gets to work when she hears of the prophecies.  She is ready to make her husband king.  The only thing that stands in the way is his kindness and his cowardice, according to her.  She believes she can work on him and get him to see her way.

Hie thee hither,

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

All that impedes thee from the golden round,(25)

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem

To have thee crown'd withal. (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 90)

Lady Macbeth understands that she herself does not have the guts to kill Ducan (and perhaps the strength), but her husband won’t act unless he is spurred on.  She becomes the thorn in his side, pushing him to act.  She plans everything and sets him in motion.  She makes sure the plan is carried out.

It turns out that when pushed Macbeth becomes quite violent.  Once he starts killing, he seems unable to stop. 

Who appears more evil, Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

There are so many opinions on guilt, culpability and evil in the characters of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare that it is probably best for each member of the audience, or reader, to make their own judgement depending on their reading/view of it.  My own reading of it leads me to prefer the scenario that poor Macbeth is ill - he has a psychological/mental illness which predisposes him to suggestiblity. Because he is very suggestible, other people can work on him - his personality is malleable and others exploit that weakness and frailty. Chief among them of course is the true villain of my piece - Lady Macbeth. I think she knows her husband well enough to know which buttons she has to press to get him doing her bidding. He does the rest.

Who appears more evil, Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

Shakespeare gives numerous clues throughout the text as to which character truly is the leader in the conspiracy to kill King Duncan. Even though the witches plant the seed of ambition in Macbeth's head in Scene 1, he would never have the guts to do something as black as murder the reigning king without pressure from Lady Macbeth. She, as his wife, knows him best, and says of him:

"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false..." (Act 1 Scene 5).

She states that though Macbeth may have ambition and potential for greatness, he is too good to act in any false way to attain his goals. This is where she decides to become the influence he needs to make quick work to fulfill the prophecy. She calls upon evil spirits to fill her with evil power. Read the whole scene to get the full effect.

"Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty!" (Act 1, Scene 5).

Later in the play, her dominant role is reinforced when Macbeth has second thoughts about the murder (Act 1, Scene 7). She tells him he cannot call himself a man unless he does the deed. Throughout the whole ordeal, Macbeth is clearly struggling with fear and guilt, while his wife is undaunted. After the murder is complete, Macbeth is the first to hear voices and suffer fear of being discovered--Lady Macbeth again becomes the voice of rationality,

"MACBETH:

I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not.

LADY MACBETH:

Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt" (Act 2 Scene 2).

In all of these scenes, Lady Macbeth seems to be the voice of darkness and temptation for Macbeth. Yes, he does commit the murders of Duncan and his servants, but after Lady Macbeth goads him to go through with it. After all of this, the spirits of darkness that she called upon at first seem to have abandoned her to her guilt and fear, and she dies having lost her mind.

Who appears more evil, Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

Considering the play Macbeth as a whole, Lady Macbeth is more evil than her husband Macbeth. At one point, Macbeth had changed his mind about killing King Duncan. In Act I, Scene VII, he shares his decision with his wife:

We will proceed no further in this business.
He [King duncan] has recently honored me, and I now have the Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which I want to enjoy for a bit longer, and
Not cast them aside so soon.

Truly, Macbeth has come to his senses. He reminds Lady Macbeth that King Duncan has recently shown honor to him. Macbeth has decided to enjoy the new honors that King Duncan has bestowed upon him. When Macbeth shares this news with his wife, Lady Macbeth proves she is the more evil one. She begins to insult Macbeth's manhood. She refers to him as cowardly. She shames Macbeth for deciding not to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth is determined to become the queen of Scotland. Through her manipulation, she convinces Macbeth to follow through with the murdering of King Duncan. She is manipulative and controlling. She has no second thoughts about murdering King Duncan. She insists that Macbeth is afraid:

Are you afraid
To be the same man in reality
As the one you wish to be? Would you have the crown
Which you believe to be the ornament of life,
And yet live like a coward in your own self-esteem?

No doubt, Lady Macbeth has no respect for her husband and his decision to not kill King Duncan. She insults Macbeth's manhood by insisting that he is afraid. With no apparent concern for King Duncan as a human being who is leading the country, Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan. It is obvious that Lady Macbeth has an evil nature. Ultimately, Macbeth agrees to pacify her and follow through with the murdering of King Duncan, calling the event a terrible one:

I’m convinced, and I commit
Every part of my body to this terrible event.     

When it comes time for the actual murdering of King Duncan, Macbeth has trouble following through with the murder. He hallucinates, seeing a knife floating in the air. He has trouble remebering to leave the bloody weapons on the guards. Macbeth is in anguish throughout the murdering of King Duncan and the guards. Lady Macbeth has no patience with her husband's difficulty in his murderous task. When Macbeth forgets to leave the knives on the guards, he admits that he is afraid to go back. Lady Macbeth becomes exasperated with her husband. She impatiently insists that he just give her the knives and she will plant them on the guards. She insults Macbeth by calling him weak: 

Weak of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are only like pictures. It is the eye of childhood
That’s afraid of a painted devil. If he bleeds,
I'll smear the faces of the grooms with it,
Because it must seem that they are guilty.

No doubt, Lady Macbeth is more evil than her husband. Macbeth admits he is afraid. Lady Macbeth claims that she could have killed Macbeth herself. She seems totally exhausted with Macbeth's fear. Truly, Lady Macbeth has no conscience at this point. While Macbeth admits that he is afraid and does not desire to follow through with the murder, Lady Macbeth scoffs at him. She ridicules her husband. She manipulates him by insulting his manhood. She claims he is afraid and cowardly. Ultimately, Lady Macbeth is the more evil of the two. 

In Macbeth, who holds more power, Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

In the beginning of the play it is Lady Macbeth who has power over Macbeth, but as the play develops, the power shifts to Macbeth.

The first demonstration of Lady Macbeth's power is revealed in her soliloquy in Act I, During this soliloquy she states

"Hie thee hither

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

All that impedes thee from the golden round."

The "golden round" is the crown. She knows that Macbeth is a "push over" because as she says, Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness." But it is quite obvious that she feels that she is more powerful than Macbeth early in the play, for once Macbeth comes home, she does pour her spirits into his ear.

When Macbeth comes home and tells her that the King is coming to their dwelling to celebrate, she asks when will he be leaving, and when Macbeth states he plans to leave in the morning, Lady Macbeth responds by saying

"O, never

Shall sun that morrow see!

meaning King Duncan will not live to see the sun rise. This stuns Macbeth, but he does not respond, well at least not verbally. His expression does though, and Lady Macbeth demonstrates her power and lets him know by saying

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,

Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent flower,

But be the serpent under 't. He that's coming

Must be provided for; and you shall put

This night's great business into my dispatch,

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

In these lines, she most certainly reveals her power over Macbeth, by telling him to put tonight's "great business into [her] dispatch" and if he does, she states that it will give them "sovereign sway and masterdom."

Macbeth's response to this is "We will speak further." Lady Macbeth exercises her power once again over Macbeth and says,

Only look up clear.

To alter favor ever is to fear.

Leave all the rest to me.

The line truly reveals her power over Macbeth, for he does just that.

Later in Act I when Macbeth convinces himself to not murder King Duncan, Lady Macbeth once again reveals her power by questioning his manhood by saying, that when you first wanted to do this, "then you were a man."

And then Macbeth asks, "If we should fail?" And Lady Macbeth flexes her power once again, and says, "But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we'll not fail." Then she lays out the plot to murder Duncan, and after hearing her plot, Macbeth says that he is "settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat."

Once the murder is complete, and  they have been crowned king and queen, the power begins to shift. For Macbeth does not consult with Lady Macbeth at all, and plots the murder of Banquo and his son and Macduff's family. As a matter of fact, Lady Macbeth's role becomes almost insignificant after Act III.

In what ways does Lady Macduff contrast with Lady Macbeth in Macbeth?

I don't think you could find two characters that are actually more different. I think, however, the biggest difference that Shakespeare creates between these two characters is the way that Lady Macduff is explicity presented as a mother figure in the one scene in which she appears in Act IV scene 2. She is shown to engage in some pleasing banter with her eldest son, which is obviously designed to make the audience feel sympathy for her and her situation. In addition, when she is given news of the approaching murderers, note how she responds:

Whither should I fly?

I have done no harm. But I remember now

I am in this earthly world, where, to do harm

Is often laudable; to do good, sometime

Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas!

Do I put up that womanly defence,

To say, I have done no harm?

Note the innocence expressed in her character through her response. She is deliberately presented as a good, perhaps somewhat naive, mother figure, who loves her children.

Contrast this impression with Lady Macbeth, who talks happily about smashing the head of her babe and can not be described as naive at all. The power of Lady Macbeth lies in the way that she is able to manipulate both her husband and others through a mixture of mockery and pleas. Whereas Lady Macduff is an honest and good character, Lady Macbeth fears that her husband is "too full o'th'milk of human kindness" and famously, in Act I scene 5, asks the spirits to make her into even more of an evil character than she already is:

Come, you Spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full

Of direst cruelty!

It is interesting that Lady Macduff is a character that we associate with feminine motherhood, whereas Lady Macbeth, having no children and being asked to be "unsexed" here, stands in complete contrast to Lady Macduff.

How does Shakespeare convey the differing attitudes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth?

Many scholars note that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth start out with differing attitudes, and then change places by the end of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth.

Macbeth has fought valiantly for king and country, and Duncan has rewarded him richly—with promises of more to come! His "vaulting ambition" motivates him not for the sake of money, but for power. He struggles even with the inkling of killing Duncan, as soon as the witches make their predictions—for Duncan is alive...how can Macbeth be king if Duncan lives? 

In Act One, scene five, Lady Macbeth reads aloud Macbeth's letter that describes his meeting with the witches

'They met me in the day of success, and I have

learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them

than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question

them further, they made themselves air, into which

they vanished...' (1-5)

Macbeth's letter indicates his awe over the witches' words. He is amazed that their prediction regarding his new title taken from Cawdor has come true. When this happens, he writes to his wife that he cannot help but consider becoming king someday. However, he does not imply a desire to take steps to make it come true. He simply shares, with the woman he loves, the news that one day she will be queen. That is all. 

It is in this scene, however, that Lady Macbeth worries about Macbeth, believing he is not evil enough to do what is necessary to take the throne; her attitude is very different than her husband's:

Yet do I fear thy nature;

It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness

To catch the nearest way. (14-16)

She begins to make plans of her own. By the time the messenger arrives informing her that the King is staying at their castle that night, Lady Macbeth is intent upon killing Duncan. She refers to the raven, an omen of death, and speaks of Duncan's "fatal entrance"— his last entrance anywhere:

The raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

Under my battlements.  (39-41)

Note that Duncan enters under her battlements. Then she calls on dark spirits to remove womanly softness from her, and make her heart vicious so she can kill!

On the other hand, Macbeth balks at the idea of taking Duncan's life; in scene seven, he wishes that it were done and over with, for killing Duncan goes against his nature:

If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well

It were done quickly. (I.vii.1-2)

He goes on to note the reasons he should not kill the King: he is a guest; he is related; he is Macbeth's king; and, he is a good man—Macbeth is sure that even heaven will cry out in horror over the murder. He goes as far as to tell his wife they won't continue with the plan:

We will proceed no further in this business... (34)

He wants to enjoy Duncan's honors, and the praise from others. It is here we see how warped Lady Macbeth is. She insults Macbeth's manhood; accuses him of making empty promises; and, says she could and would murder an infant if she had promised to do so:

I…know

How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me:

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,

And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you

Have done to this. (60-65)

Lady Macbeth is truly evil; she badgers him until he agrees.

But by the end, Macbeth murders with little or no provocation. His wife sleepwalks, reliving the murders; insane, she later takes her life. Macbeth's speech at the start infers doubt; his wife's, conviction!

Compare the character traits of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are both ambitious, but Lady Macbeth is more persistent and Macbeth is more impulsive.

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is an honorable and brave solider.  He stands up to Macdonwald, the traitor.   He fought through a battle like “valor’s minion” (enotes etext pdf p. 9).  Duncan greets Macbeth like a friend and cousin, and a loyal subject.  Unfortunately, Macbeth gets interested in higher ambitions when the witches tell him he will be Thane of Cawdor and then king.  When he gets the first promotion, he expects the second.

Stars, hide your fires;

Let not light see my black and deep desires:

The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.(60) (p. 18)

Macbeth may be ambitious, but he has more thought than action. Lady Macbeth is the one with the action.  She is persistent enough to continue whittling away at Macbeth, urging him on.  She tells her husband to pretend to be nice to Duncan while plotting against him, so he won’t be suspicious.

Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower,(70)

But be the serpent under't. (p. 20)

When he seems to waver, she basically calls him a wimp.

But screw your courage to the sticking-place,

And we'll not fail.(p. 24)

Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to the specifics of the murder, and he does become king.  However, she has created a monster.  She cannot control him afterward, because Macbeth is more impulsive.  He begins killing and killing, and seeing imaginary daggers and ghosts.  She realizes that he has lost it, and she cannot control him anymore.  Eventually, she loses her mind and kills herself out of guilt.

Macbeth also succumbs to guilt, but he is more impulsive.  He fights to the last minute, thinking he cannot die, until he finds out that Macduff really can kill him.  Then he gives up.

Compare and contrast Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Conclusions can be a real pain.  You want to do several things within your conclusion.  You want to restate your thesis, synthesize your main points, and leave your reader with an impression that makes them care about your topic.  

There are some things to avoid when writing a conclusion.  

• Avoid writing a clone of your introduction.  You want it to be similar but not exact. 
• Do not word for word restate your thesis.  
• If the conclusion is the first place that you are writing your thesis, go back and change your introduction
• Do not introduce a new topic in your conclusion.  If you didn't mention it the body, don't mention it in the conclusion.  
• Do not write "in conclusion."  It works for speeches, because an audience can't see that the end is near.  In a paper, the reader can see they are on the last page, last paragraph. 
• If the paper is an analytical paper, avoid emotional appeals to your reader.  It throws off the tone of the paper. 

Some things to focus on doing:

• Answer the "so what" question.  Your thesis and your paper body are trying to make a point.  Your conclusion should answer the "so what, why should I care?" question of the reader. 
• Chances are, your paper went from a broad topic and worked toward specific examples.  Your conclusion should do the opposite.  Move from your specific arguments to the broad overarching point. 
• Don't just summarize the entire paper.  You want to synthesize it.  You want to drive home to your reader how all of your evidence and support ties together.  Don't assume that your reader "gets it."  Spell it out for them. 

Compare and contrast Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Writing essay conclusions is one of the more difficult things for students to do.  Try to observe the following guidelines:

• Don’t start with words like “in conclusion.” Your reader already knows that he/she is reading your last paragraph. Unnecessary words never help.
• Do not repeat what you’ve already written previously in the essay. Essays never need the same information stated in the same way.
• Try to leave your reader with a deeper understanding of the topic. Your conclusion can take the general idea of your essay one step further, giving your reader something important to think about at the end.
• Whatever your thesis is for the essay (your main idea), don’t add supporting evidence in the conclusion. You do all of your “proving” and “supporting” in the body of the essay.
• The conclusion can usually be shorter than the other paragraphs in the essay (although it doesn’t have to be).

Make sure to follow your teacher’s instructions carefully. Look to see if your conclusion must meet any specific requirements.

If I were writing the essay I would include in the conclusion the idea that by the end of the story Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have traded places, as he has become the aggressor and she has become remorseful and guilt-stricken. 

Why do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have different attitudes?

Perhaps one reason why there is a difference in attitude between both husband and wife is to show the countervailing forces that each embody in the course of the relationship.  There is a very odd and off symmetry that transpires between both.  When Lady Macbeth is eager to embrace moral evil and depravity, Macbeth seems to demonstrate reticence.  When he is willing to plunge into the depths of moral transgression, she is hesitant.  In their differences, Shakespeare explores the condition of married couples where there is constant difference and lack of common ground.  The push force in one matches the pull force in the other.  

The interesting element that comes out of this is that there is never a point in the drama where their differences can be overcome.  When Macbeth begins his descent into that which is evil, Lady Macbeth has already started the process of moving away from what she now knows as evil.  The difference in attitude between both husband and wife reveals a fundamental disconnect that is never overcome in their relationship.  There is a dynamic present that the differences featured in both become a whole.  Yet, there is also a rather sad reality that their differences will never be able to be overcome.  In this, the differences in attitude between both makes them out to be passing ships in the night more than a married couple.  It might be for this reason that upon learning of his wife's death, Macbeth is only able to explain why there is no meaning to existence.  The reality of the cost of their differences becomes clear at this point in the narrative.