1. How does Shakespeare present the marriage of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?
The marriage and relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is important in the play, but not the central cause of the tragedy that occurs.
The extract is at a critical moment in the play. Macbeth is wrestling with his conscience and sense of morality, which at this point is still intact. The decision has not yet been taken to kill Duncan, and although the tragedy is inevitable, it could at this point be avoided.
Shakespeare presents Macbeth as the weaker partner in the marriage in this extract. Lady Macbeth appears to have more power. Though women may have typically been forced into more submissive roles in Jacobean times, they were also likened to witches and seen as untrustworthy and unpredictable. She uses a number of rhetorical questions, asking him if the ‘hope was drunk and if ’it slept since?’ These are fired at Macbeth one after the other, in an aggressive tone, leaving him no opportunity to defend himself. The use of questions is a manipulative and persuasive device that Lady Macbeth uses to ensure her own ambitions are fulfilled. Examining power in the Macbeth’s marriage in the play as a whole tells a different story, however. Whilst Lady Macbeth may appear to be the dominant partner, it is she who is so much more mentally and physically weaker than Macbeth. She calls upon ‘evil spirits’ to give her the strength she needs to persuade Macbeth to kill the king. Alone, she fears her feminine nature will stop her. In addition, she cannot bear the guilt she feels from the murder of Duncan, nor can she bear the distance that has come between her and her husband after the murder. She is so traumatized that she takes her own life, to end her sleep walking and night terrors.
This scene also shows the lengths Lady Macbeth will go to to achieve her goal - becoming crowned as king and queen. She mocks and ridicules Macbeth using an allusion of the ‘cat I’th’adage’. Shakespeare’s earlier portrait of Macbeth as a fierce and brave warrior emphasizes the humiliation he would have felt by being likened to a timid cat. This embarrassment caused by this allusion would also have been recognised and understood by the audiences of the time. Lady Macbeth also uses juxtaposing terms such as ‘coward/esteem’ and ‘hope/green/pale’ to draw the conclusion that because he is not keen on murder, he must be frightened. Macbeth’s language is very different in this extract and full of positive terms. He describes his pride at hearing ‘golden opinion’ and the ‘honour’ he has received. These opposing semantic fields show the chasm that has already sprung up between them.
This point in the play also shows how Shakespeare presents the marriage as a unified relationship. Macbeth uses the pronoun ‘we’ in his attempt to be decisive about what they should do next. Although this is in the form of a command, ‘we will proceed no further in this business’, it reveals Macbeth’s belief they will act as one, that she will respect what he wants. He refers to her frequently throughout the play in loving terms, ‘dearest partner of greatness’ and ‘sweet remembrancer’. The love between them seems to be unequal and uneven. This is made especially clear by Shakespeare when Lady Macbeth threatens in this extract that ‘from this time such I account thy love’. She is warning Macbeth that her love depends upon what he chooses to do. The dramatic irony Shakespeare presents to the audience is that when Lady Macbeth has all that she desires, her marriage is over, and the couple become increasingly distant and apart.
Despite the shifting nature of the marriage, the play is ultimately the tragedy of Macbeth and his actions. Shakespeare shows that Lady Macbeth is far weaker than Macbeth, and even though he felt deeply in love with her and tried hard to please, the marriage is peripheral to the choices Macbeth makes.