Macbeth Act 1 ~ Character Profile

  Lady Macbeth 

Lady Macbeth is Macbeth’s wife. Her character is very interesting to study and I think she is the most essential character of the play. In my point of view, Lady Macbeth is a very complicated person; she is the kind of person that I can’t clearly or easily label as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. By the conversation she had with Macbeth in Act I, I can tell that she and Macbeth are deeply in love. In the surface of their relationship she is dominating like a man, obviously ambitious, merciless and ferocious. In Act I scene 5 she teaches Macbeth the steps to murder Duncan, and is willing to clean up the mess for him. She might sound like a heartless woman who uses her husband as a puppet for more power, but then I have a feeling that she is not doing it for her own benefit.

Lady Macbeth yelled at Macbeth when he has doubt to murder Duncan, but instead of trying to control Macbeth, I tend to think that she yelled at him out of love. Just like how a mother angrily yells at a son when she finds out that he is too cowardly to pursue a promising future. Even when she speaks mockingly to challenge his manhood, Macbeth does not get mad because in his heart he knows what his wife says is right. After all she is just a woman, what good will it bring for her to sustain so much power? I think she loves her husband (perhaps in a way we do not understand) and wants the best for him. My guess is that later on in the story her guiltiness will come back to haunt her, and make her mentally vulnerable. If that happens, that really shows she has love in her heart.