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how does shakespeare present lady macbeth as a character who changes throughout the whole play and in this extract (act 5 s1)

In Macbeth, Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as the underlying spur for her husband to commit regicide towards a good, noble king. As her character morphs throughout the play, we witness a powerful, dominant woman who subverts Jacobean principles of women turning into a soulless body who has to accept the punishments for her over-ambitious actions. These consequences are well-deserved and have been presented by Shakespeare to highlight the consequences of going against one’s position in the Great Chain of Being.

At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth makes her entrance with a soliloquy, already highlighting her power as she is given a long, effective speech to portray her first impressions to the audience as dominating. Unlike typical Jacobean women, the fact that Lady Macbeth even got to have such long lines would be shocking as women were in no way dominant, they could merely speak up to their husbands, so in a play, it would not be the norm. In this soliloquy, we learn Lady Macbeth’s nature very quickly as she does not hesitate to call evil spirits upon her: ‘Come you spirits..’. Her being able to take the initiative to do such a thing immediately suggests that she is not like the ideal Jacobean woman. She willingly calls to the supernatural which intrigues the audience. If Lady Macbeth can call upon spirits, is she part of the supernatural too? The audience would be fearful, as they already have just seen how three women, the Weird Sisters, are powerful and push their prophecies on Macbeth. It would create an eerie vibe as Lady Macbeth’s role in the play would rashly be analysed by them too…could she be a witch too? Furthermore, the fact that Lady Macbeth uses imperative verbs very easily, such as ‘come’, soon followed by ‘fill’, shows that she is very domineering and upfront. No Jacobean woman would talk like that to anyone, let alone spirits. This further highlights her unusual, quite rather malicious nature, presented right from the beginning of her introduction. This could have also been guessed before her entrance, as Macbeth himself addresses her as his ‘dearest partner’. The noun ‘partner’ shows equality in their relationship as it has connotations of companionship, again unusual as Jacobean women had no say in their husband’s actions - their husbands quite literally owned them as soon as they got married. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s relationship at this stage foreshadows that because they did not conform to Jacobean standards, it can only go downhill for them, as they did not follow the cultural norms, and aimed for ambition which they did not own. Here, we see that Lady Macbeth does not speak very highly of her husband at all, and she describes him as ‘too full of human kindness’ in an accusatory manner, as if it is wrong for him to act ‘human’. Once again, this hints that Lady Macbeth is not human, but rather an object, pricking at him to commit the murder of King Duncan. Due to her words, the audience sort of sees that even though they are supposedly ‘dearest partners’, Lady Macbeth still has the upper hand, and therefore has to be the driving action of the murder - she knows Macbeth’s good nature will get in the way, so she must call upon these spirits to help her. This highlights the realistic inequality of their relationship, as in every type of relationship, there is usually domination, even in modern-day. The shocking part would be that Macbeth is not the dominant partner in their marriage, despite living in a patriarchal society. Although Lady Macbeth appears to be powerful, as she is not scared to call upon spirits to ‘unsex her’, so she can lose her femininity and be the spur for their plan, it can be seen that actually, she is a woman who conforms to Jacobean standards. This is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth cannot do anything herself due to the fact that she is a woman, so she has to rely on spirits and the supernatural overall, to help her husband. Her actions are often in the background and this is further depicted as she is not the literal murderer of Duncan, it is Macbeth who commits the crime. It can be seen that Lady Macbeth actually is just fulfilling the wishes of her ambitious husband, because she has to, because it is her duty as a Jacobean woman to be of use to their husband. Since she is aware of Macbeth’s flaws, his kind nature, she obviously desperately has to do something for her husband. This ideology may suggest that Lady Macbeth does not change as much as she appears to. As she is a woman, she has to take the punishment of her husband for him, earlier than he does, which is highlighted in this extract, where she shows the weaknesses which she probably already had from the beginning, which she had to hide to support her husband.

Alternatively, Lady Macbeth has huge changes, she almost transforms into a different person, as her weaknesses are so clear, her actions in the regicide start to dawn on her. Disturbance is a clear motif in this extract, shown through her inability to sleep, despite her previous interactions with the supernatural and the concept of death. She screams ‘Out, damned spot!’It is very shocking that we see Lady Macbeth so worked up on a single ‘spot’, which actually is not even there. This contrasts to her powerful image and belittling demeanour in Act 2 scene 2, where she told Macbeth that ‘a little water clears us of this deed’. The adjective ‘little’ decides the amount of action that takes for them to be innocent. However, in this extract, a spot - which is relatively smaller than an amount of water - seems to bother her and crawls through her brain, until she can no longer make her way back into reality. Lady Macbeth clearly has hallucinations, as a result of her actions. This is done purposefully by Shakespeare as Duncan’s murder happened to be in sleep, so it is only fair that Lady Macbeth is stripped of her ability to sleep, therefore she sleepwalks out of her own will. Lady Macbeth essentially cries for her sleep, ‘to bed, to bed, to bed’, almost as if she is singing a lullaby, which is ironic as it is something which parents would usually sing to their beloved children. This is mirrored when during the murder of Duncan, she expressed that ‘had he not resembled my father as he slept’, she would have murdered him herself. The repetition of ‘to bed’ reinforces that Lady Macbeth is now immersed in guilt, as she has done something so horrible to a possibly fatherly figure, so she must sing the lullaby to herself now. Previously, it was clear that Lady Macbeth did not even think about being guilty because after all, it only requires a ‘little water’ to make them innocent so she did not see any reason to be guilty. Lady Macbeth has evidently changed as now she questions ‘will these hands ne’er be clean?’, she almost begs for her hands to be cleared of this deed. The modal verb of ‘will’ juxtaposes her previous use of imperative, harsh verbs to get things done. ‘Will’ explores her confusion and disturbance, causing her to act differently from her usual, empowering nature. It seems as though she has given up and accepted her punishment as she says, ‘what’s done cannot be undone’. This is not something she would have said earlier on in the play, as we know it was Lady Macbeth who took care of Macbeth’s flaw - kindness. Now, there is no way to fix anything, what has been done cannot be undone and there is no way for her to escape. ‘Cannot’, which is also a modal verb, shows that it is definite, no further pointless murders can aid her or Macbeth.

After the scene in this extract, Lady Macbeth’s character, who was once diminishing and omnipotent, gradually disappears, highlighting her true role in a Jacobean society. Due to her changing nature, her importance in the play starts to diminish. Lady Macbeth’s death occurs off-stage, juxtaposing her entrance in Act 1 Scene 5 (with a powerful soliloquy). This highlights how Lady Macbeth’s role itself has changed, she is no longer needed. This reiterates Jacobean views for women, they are only to be used by their husbands when necessary, and we see that Macbeth no longer consults Lady Macbeth in his plans, starting with when he decided to kill Banquo. This reflects Macbeth’s sudden independence, but also the switch of roles. Lady Macbeth starts to conform to the stereotypes of women in this era, acting as a passive wife, not needed to interfere with her husband’s matters, regardless of what they may be; good or evil. This ironically is some sort of wake-up call for Lady Macbeth to stay within her boundaries, given by the Great Chain of Being. It is also targeted at the audience, following the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, they are warned and reminded of sticking to their position. Majority of the audience who would have been Catholic believed that the king was chosen by God, and they would have gotten some pleasure to see Lady Macbeth’s punishments and irrelevance, as a consequence of her role in the murder of Duncan.