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One of Shakespeare’s prominent female characters appears in “Macbeth,” by the name of Lady Macbeth. She is presented as a strong-willed ambitious power craving woman, more so than her husband. She is the one who goads her husband into committing murder by questioning his masculinity. Overall, she is a skilled manipulator who preys on her husband’s faults to carry out the ‘dreadful deed’ that sparks both of their gradual descents into insanity and despair. Initially, she is presented as a dark, dire woman begging to be filled with spirits of ‘direst cruelty.’ As the play progressives, we see her interact with the good but naive King Duncan. She puts on her face of the ‘innocent flower’ and preys upon Duncan’s naivete as the serpent. Once Duncan is murdered and done with, Macbeth seems to take a turn for the worse at his coronation banquet. Lady Macbeth immediately tries to cover for Macbeth, but his vivid hallucinations are too much. Eventually, she pulls him aside and yet again questions his manhood, preying again on his faults. Finally, towards the end of “Macbeth,” we find Lady Macbeth sleepwalking, a physical manifestation of the enormous guilt that plagues her conscience.


Even though Macbeth is generally the one to have the final say in the many killings that take place in the play, Lady Macbeth plays the role of a villain alongside him. She mocks her Lord if he frets over something she has instructed him to do, saying he would be less of a man if he does not follow through on their plan (I. vii. 56-57). She gives Lord Macbeth a short lecture in deceptiveness when they are planning to kill King Duncan (I. vi. 73-78). She also prepared the daggers for Macbeth to kill Duncan in advance (II. ii. 15-16). Though her Lord was still having doubts, she was, in the most literal sense, ready to go in for the kill. 

Clearly demonstrating another villainous characteristic other than self- gain, Lady Macbeth shows the fear of getting...