I thought it’s only fitting to fill my blog post with material that I couldn’t cover in the presentation in class. I think the comparisons between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can go on forever. Their echoes of each other’s words ring throughout the entire play. The audience really does get an in depth look at their relationship and how they play off each other. In 1.7.33, Macbeth says “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well/ It were done quickly.” Here, he’s referring to the killing of Duncan right before his wife persuades him to carry out the evil deed. Then in 3.1.13, Lady Macbeth says to her husband about all the deeds that have been committed already, “what’s done, is done” (probably the most famous line is all of Shakespearean literature). Here, she echoes her husband’s words in 1.7, which continues to portray the influence they have on each other.
Shakespeare’s diction is also very well chosen in this play to set the tone of the entire plot. In 1.5.64, Lady Macbeth says “Look like th’innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under’t” when speaking to her husband about killing Duncan. In 3.2.14, Macbeth says, “We have scorched the snake, not killed it” when speaking to his wife about killing Banquo and Fleance. Shakespeare uses words with very wicked connotations like “serpent” and “snake” to add to the ambience of the plot. His words emphasize the dark, dangerous and almost poisonous path Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are on and later we’ll come to see that the only way they can get off is if they themselves are killed.
I completely agree that the comparisions between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are vast. I also believe that, in fact, Lady Macbeth feeds off of Macbeth to go through with her plans. She too, is driven by motives that are evil, and her ongoing will to dominate is crucial to understanding her character. Still, Lady Macbeth is rapt in getting what she wants and this does not bother Macbeth since, we all know, that he is on the same page as she. The ability for them to feed off each other is what makes them a legendary power couple.
Act 5 shows us what can happens to even the most powerful of couples. What areas of experience are beyond sharing? The references to evil here are worth considering, as is the resonance of serpents/snakes. We are in a Christian world in Shakespearean tragedy; in Shakespeare’s classical plays, like Troilus and Cressida, we are not. This difference may contribute to the generic differences between these two plays.
There are definitely references here to Adam and Eve in both the language of sin and serpents, and in the sinful coercion that both Macbeths engage in. What’s interesting is how muddy their roles get. At first, Lady Macbeth seems the consummate eve, pushing her husband towards the tree of knowledge. When Macbeth acts independently to kill Banquo, he breaks with Adam. Adam and Eve, while expunged from Eden, create life after sin. The Macbeths cannot accomplish this. Because they both flew towards the tree, of a murderous one mind, there is no redemption waiting.