How Does Lady Macbeth Change Throughout The Play

Throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth, we get the privilege to meet Lady Macbeth who plays a pivotal role in most of the events that occur in the play. We meet her and not think much of her but by the end of the play, we dislike her completely. During the play we see her marriage fall apart, her mental health deteriorate and whatever good she had in her disappear.

We are first introduced to Lady Macbeth at the beginning of Act 1 scene 5 when she is reading a letter sent to her by her husband Macbeth. The letter details an encounter Macbeth had with the weird sisters who told him he would be the king of Scotland.

When Lady Macbeth receives a message informing her that the king is coming over for supper, already she begins to plot his fatal end. “The raven itself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements.” The raven is a predatory bird which was thought to be a messenger of death. The word “hoarse” is used to describe the Raven’s croak and indicates that the raven has been croaking and proclaiming death so much that its voice is beginning to strain.
The phrase “spirits that tend on mortal thoughts” refers to evil spirits which listen to murderous plans. The phrase “unsex me here” is Lady Macbeth asking these spirits to remove her female qualities and replace the with “direst cruelty”. The word “direst” is a superlative which means the worst kind. The word is effective because it makes the audience aware of the person Lady Macbeth intends on