Lady Macbeth is very much the prime mover behind the wicked plot to kill Duncan. Macbeth's reluctant to go along with his wife's plans because he still feels a residue of loyalty to his king, the man who's showered him with honors and praise for his tireless service. By the time we've reached Act I Scene vii Macbeth is openly expressing his doubts about the murder plot:
We will proceed no further in this business.He hath honored me of late, and I have boughtGolden opinions from all sorts of people,Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,Not cast aside so soon.
Lady Macbeth responds by impugning her husband's manhood and presenting him with a stark choice: either he can take the crown or live the rest of his life as a coward, always wondering what might have been. Macbeth replies by claiming that committing this foul deed will make him less than a man. On the contrary, says Lady Macbeth, it will actually make him more of a man:
What beast was ’t, then,That made you break this enterprise to me?When you durst do it, then you were a man;And to be more than what you were, you wouldBe so much more the man.
We can see here that Lady Macbeth's trying to overcome her husband's moral qualms about the murder by playing on his sense of manly honor. She's effectively making him feel like a wimp for not going through with it.
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