When Macbeth asks, "If we should fail?"(I, V, 59), Lady Macbeth is quick to reassure him,"We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place And we'll not fail." (I, V, 60-61) Macbeth is uncertain whether he can pull off this murder and Lady Macbeth tells him it is necessary, and that he will do it. Lady Macbeth also possesses a cunning quality that adds to her ambition, she says Macbeth must "Look like thy innocent flower, But be the serpent under it"(I, V, 56-58)," in order to mislead the King into trusting Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is ambitious because she is relentless in her efforts to gain power and stops at nothing, not even murder, to get what she wants.
At one point of the play, Lady Macbeth goes as far as to reject her own gender. As Duncan enters the house of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth wants to be less of a woman,"unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature (I, V, 30-33)," so she doesn't feel remorse and she can go on with her plan. She feels that being female hinders her in doing what she wants because generally she is thought of as weak. At the other end of the spectrum, Macbeth displays behavior that would not be considered manly at the time such as being indecisive about the fate that the witches predict, taking orders from his wife, and expressing feelings of guilt. When Macbeth is approached by the witches and told his fate, he believes that,"to be King Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor (I, III, 74-76)." Macbeth is skeptical at first of the witches' prophecy because he does not believe that he can be anything more than he is now. Once certain parts of the witches' prophecy come true, Macbeth has a sense of hope that he will be King. Macbeth then doubts, "If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings (I, III, 138-142)," because he wants to be King, but does not want to have to murder his way to the throne.
