Macbeth
 
The Relationship Between Macbeth 
 And Lady Macbeth
 
The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is a very
close but rather strange one. Although the couple love and
adore each other greatly there are a lot of things than
Macbeth does not understand about Lady Macbeth. He does not
realize that she knows his weakness of character and his
strengths and therefore can manipulate his behavior. At the
beginning of the play Lady Macbeth is the stronger of the
two. Throughout the play there are times where Macbeth is
stronger and times where Lady Macbeth takes control. The
communication between the couple is very strong at the
beginning but as the play progresses it alters and
eventually breaks down. Many factors like persuasion and
ambition are a big part in the couple's relationship. When
Lady Macbeth reads the letter about her husband's victory
she becomes the more powerful character. Although it was
the witches who told Macbeth he will be king, it was Lady
Macbeth who uses her art of persuasion and knowledge of
Macbeth's weaknesses, to make him kill the king, and to
achieve the prophecies set by the witches. Lady Macbeth
starts to persuade Macbeth from their first meeting. This
meeting is very romantic and close, and this helps her with
her persuasion. Another factor that helps lady Macbeth
persuades Macbeth is the knowledge she has of him. She
knows how to get him motivated. Due to Macbeths lack of
knowledge of his spouse, he is unable to prevent her. 

Lady Macbeth has a driving ambition, not just for Macbeth
to be king, but for herself to be queen. This causes her to
really try hard, to get the position, making her more
powerful. Lady Macbeth is still the more powerful of the
couple when King Duncan is murdered. She plans and sets the
situations up (drugging guards etc.), and gets Macbeth to
carry out the deed. After the murder Macbeth returns with
the daggers, this is another sign of weakness as Macbeth
knew he could be caught with them. Lady Macbeth takes
control and returns the daggers. The point where Macbeth
starts to take control is when he slaughters the guards.
This was not in Lady Macbeths planning and for a little
while Macbeth is in control of the situation. 

From that point, he goes from strength to strength and
plans Banquo's and Fleances murdered. The only weakness
shown there is that he had to get hit men to do it, he
could not kill his best friend himself. Macbeth is in
control and very powerful until the banquet scene. This is
the last time in the play that Lady Macbeth is involved,
and is able to become the more powerful of the two. After
the banquet scene Macbeth goes from strength to strength
again, and having Macduff's family killed is a sign of
this. 

When Macbeth consults the weird sisters for the last time,
they trick him to make him think that what they say can't
happen. For example, they said the Birnam Woods will move.
This trickery causes Macbeth to become more powerful and
more ambitious as he thinks that no harm will come to him
and he doesn't need Lady Macbeth anymore. This is a big
point in the breakdown of the couple's relationship. An
illustration of Lady Macbeth's weakness and her mental
breakdown is portrayed through the sleepwalking scene. This
is where Lady Macbeth reveals everything about Macbeth and
herself killing Duncan. The decrease of Lady Macbeth's
power eventually leads to her suicide. 

At the beginning of the play, the relationship between the
couple is very close as they are dependent on each other.
As the play progresses, and Macbeth becomes more powerful,
he doesn't need Lady Macbeth anymore, causing her breakdown
and her suicide.