Malicious Monday: Lady Macbeth

Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth.

Let's get classy up in this bitch! We're talking about Shakespeare mothafuckkah! Don't you already feel smart and artistic?

My mind is just a weird place to be sometimes... okay all the time. When I was reading William Shakespeare's Macbeth in high school, I felt an immediate connection to the character of Lady Macbeth. I don't know why, maybe because she was a strong, powerful woman who didn't give a dick. It's unusual to see this in a play from this era. Women were generally just side-characters they weren't powerful or ambitious. Lady Macbeth was a beast. She wanted power, she wanted glory and she wanted that damn crown on her head!

Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth

Macbeth is considered Shakespeare's darkest tragedies. It's generally believed written around 1606 and is based on an actual King named Macbeth. The play, however, is extremely different from the actual account of his life.

The play takes place in Scotland where Macbeth, a brave general and Thane of Glamis (Which is a mayor of some sort... I think.) who has just played a large part in defeating a bunch of traitors is praised for his bravery and fighting abilities by King Duncan of Scotland. Macbeth and his friend Banquo are chillin' when these three witches come out and deliver Macbeth three prophesies. They tell him he's going to be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King hereafter. Macbeth is stunned, but Banquo doesn't quite believe them. The witches give him a prophecy that he will father a line of Kings, but will never be King himself. With that they leave. Soon after the witches second prophecy comes true when King Duncan bestows the honor of Thane of Cawdor upon Macbeth. Macbeth immediately begins to harbor ambitions of becoming King.

Witches be crazy.

King Duncan announces he will spend the night at Macbeth's castle along with his heir to the thrown, his son Malcolm. Macbeth sends a message to his wife Lady Macbeth telling him of the weird sisters, AKA the witches' prophesies. Lady Macbeth jumps aboard the crazy train and decided to help her husband fulfill the final prophecy. Macbeth is uncertain and struggles with doubt over the prophecy, but Lady Macbeth overrides all his doubts and insists that he kill King Duncan.

They work out a plan to get Duncan's two guards drunk and blame the murder on them. All goes according to plan until after Macbeth stabs King Duncan. He has a complete meltdown over his actions. Lady Macbeth has to take charge. She plants the bloody dagger on one of the guards and orders her inconsolable husband to wash the blood off his hands and return to bed.

Ian Mckellan and Judi Dench in Macbeth.

The plan works out. Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country in fear that whoever killed their father would come after them next. Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland. Macbeth soon remembers one flaw in his plan. Banquo. Banquo's prophecy troubles Macbeth greatly. He invites Banquo and his son Fleance to a banquet. He learns they're leaving that night and hires assassins to kill them. The manage to kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes unharmed. Macbeth is furious and feels his power is unsecure as long as Fleance is alive.

At the banquet, Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost and raves insanely, scaring his guests. Lady Macbeth desperatly tried to convince her guests that her husband is just ill. He's yelling at an empty chair continues, and Lady Macbeth asks the guests politely to leave.

Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856),Macbeth seeing the Ghost of Banquo,1854

After the banquet, Macbeth returns to the witches where they reveal that Banquo's decendents will indeed reign for many generations. They also reveal that Macbeth's fellow Thane, Macduff, is one to be feared. He soon learn that Macduff has fled Scotland. Macbeth orders Macduff's castle to be seized and his wife and children killed.

Francesca Annis and Jon Fitch as the Macbeths

Lady Macbeth becomes racked with guilt over the crimes her husband has committed. She loses control and starts sleepwalking and revealing the atrocities that she and Macbeth were behind. She tries washing imaginary blood stains off her hands proclaiming that no amount of washing can free her hand of the stains. This is the same Lady Macbeth who told her husband that "a little water clears us of this deed." after they murdered King Duncan.

Lady Macbeth sleepwalking by Henry Fuseli

Lady Macbeth eventually falls so deep into madness that she kills herself. Macduff and Prince Malcolm come back with an army to overtake Macbeth. Macbeth is killed and Prince Malcolm is crowned King. Banquo's decedents, however would become King after Malcolm's reign.

Damn that was a long synopsis.Sorry bout it. Like I said, when was first reading this in Literature class, I found myself drawn to Lady Macbeth. She was so different from other women I had read in Shakespeare plays. She was brutal and cold, but at the same time there was a softness about her. Something fragile.

Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth.

She wanted her husband to be happy, she believed in him. She knew he would make a great King, but most importantly, she knew she would make a FABULOUS Queen. She wanted them to be a team. She wanted her and Macbeth to rule Scotland together. She was callous and cold when it came to murdering King Duncan, but her husband was the complete opposite. He was in a fit of panic and sadness after he murdered Duncan, so much so that Lady Macbeth had to finish the plan they had worked out.

I think as the play goes on, Lady Macbeth began to realize she had created a monster. Her husband has become someone she didn't recognize. Her own ambitions and cruelty had rubbed off on Macbeth and. he became a tyrant. She lost control of the situation when Macbeth began killing people. What's sad is, Lady Macbeth herself probably realized that she was the cause of it. Her own blind ambition turned her husband into something dark.

Francesca Annis and Jon Fitch in Macbeth (1971)

Their roles reversed by the end of the play. At the beginning it was Lady Macbeth who had the control and calmness to carry out murder. She didn't care that King Duncan would die. She didn't care that he's two loyal guards would be framed for murder. She did what she thought she had to so her and her husband could have power. Macbeth was an absolute mess. He couldn't handle what he had done. Lady Macbeth was the one who had to calm him down and act natural. By the end of the play it's Macbeth who could care less about killing people and it's Lady Macbeth who loses her mind.

Lady Macbeth gets a lot of flack. I mean, it's deserved, she plotted to commit murder, but at the same time we don't know the whole story. Maybe Lady Macbeth didn't like King Duncan's politics, who knows. She just wanted him dead so she and her husband could rule, She got more than she bargained for when she realized her husband had steadily become a serial killer.

Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (1971)

I don't believe Lady Macbeth was privy to Macbeth's murder of Banquo and Macduff's family. When she found out, I think it pushed her over the edge. She couldn't handle the fact that she was the initial cause for all of it.

I don't think Lady Macbeth wanted more murder and chaos. I think she simply wanted to live her life with her husband after they killed Duncan. She didn't want more death, if anything she was too smart for that. She knew that if more and more people died, the more fingers would point at them.

This next theory might sound crazy, but ride this train with me, it'll be fun! I think Lady Macbeth wanted to be a mother. I think she wanted children in the worst way. All of Macbeth's murders involved children in some way. King Duncan's children, Malcolm and Donalbain fled in fear after their father's death. Lady Macbeth didn't care so much about that. When Banquo was killed, I think it bothered her a little more. She learned that her husband was capable of murdering an innocent child. A child she would have been happy to mother. I think this was the beginning of her decent into madness.

Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth(1979)

The final straw was when she learned that her husband was responsible for the death of multiple children. I believe the messenger that was sent to Lady Macduff to warn her of their impending doom, was indeed sent by Lady Macbeth. She didn't want more death, especially if it had to be children.

The great Vivien Leigh as Lady Macbeth. 

By the end, the once cool and confidant Lady Macbeth, was reduced to a babbling, guilt-ridden mess. She deserved everything she got. I believe she came to peace with herself toward the end. She knew that she didn't deserve to live. She knew the actions she had set in motion caused numerous deaths and unimaginable grief. She needed release from her tormented soul.

We're never told exactly how Lady Macbeth committed suicide, which is strange because normally Shakespeare enjoys describing deaths in detail. I think there's a reason. I think Shakespeare respected Lady Macbeth. He wrote her knowing how it would end. Knowing that she would become a shell of her former self. She suffered extreme guilt from her actions, but mostly her husband's actions. By not revealing how she died, Lady Macbeth is left with a small shred of dignity, whether deserved or not.

You can buy Macbeth here.

For more information on the 1971 movie directed by Roman Polanski click here.