Perhaps the most intriguing character throughout Macbeth would be Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth has both good and evil qualities. In the play, she is introduced to the audience as a dominant, ruthless, and heartless wife driven to see her husband be crowned the king of Scotland. However, Lady Macbeth is hardly as wicked as she is portrayed. The weak and vulnerable side of her personality progressively shows as the tragedy closes. .
The first portion of Macbeth portrays Lady Macbeth as a malevolent woman. One can easily assume by her introduction into the play that she is a dominating, powerful housewife. Lady Macbeth manipulates her strong-minded husband into killing King Duncan. In committing this action, Macbeth would therefore reign as King of Scotland. Because Lady Macbeth succeeded in persuading her husband into terminating the king, she greatly impacted the initial downfall of Macbeth. .
Contrary to Lady Macbeth's supposed cruel nature, Macbeth still addresses her as "dearest Chuck- (III.II.45). By the middle of the play, Lady Macbeth attempts to make herself believe that she can hide her true emotions about all the events taking place amongst her, She tries to focus on the future; such as her husband being crowned, or anything that will distract her from pondering the consequences of her and Macbeth's horrible actions. Also, as the play starts to progress, Lady Macbeth's wrongdoings slowly inundate her mind and she begins to contemplate about "What's to be done?- (III.II.44).
By the closing scenes of the Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's weak, unsure, and unstable nature is revealed. Surprisingly, Lady Macbeth is horrified by the site of blood. "Out damned spot!- (V.1.31.) Although the blood is only a hallucination, Lady Macbeth nonetheless becomes hysterical, and it is quite evident that she regrets persuading her husband to kill King Duncan. The guilt of being involved in such a crime overwhelms Lady Macbeth, and in the end of the play the agony and sorrow she felt resulted in nothing more but her taking her own life.
