Without Lady Macbeth There Would Be No Play

Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly a very influential character throughout the play and this is one of the main reasons why she is such a vital part in the story. At the start of the play the reader has the impression of Lady Macbeth as a threatening character however in the second half of the play we can see the once influential character lose her grip with not only Macbeth but with her life in general resulting in her tragic death.

Without Lady Macbeth’s ambition of success and power the play would not be as dramatic as if she would have been absent. This is because Macbeth was happy for things to play out naturally while Lady Macbeth was impatient for the prophecies to come true.

In the opening scenes the character of Lady Macbeth comes into her own when she convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan. If Lady Macbeth was not present during this part of the play the reader can assume that Macbeth would not have killed King Duncan as it is clear that Macbeth’s guilt of killing someone so good to him overrides his own ambition of becoming king. When Lady Macbeth sees Macbeth hesitates over the killing of King Duncan she quickly questions his manhood. This pressures Macbeth into killing king Duncan.

The play would have had the same conclusion if Lady Macbeth was absent from the play for a number of reasons. Firstly Macbeth didn’t care if Lady Macbeth was there or not. This statement is justified by him saying “She should have died hereafter” which shows that the play could have gone on without her. Secondly if Lady Macbeth was not there one could argue that the murders would still take place because Macbeth begun to murder without her influence later in the play. Thirdly although Lady Macbeth had instigated a large amount of circumstances, there would still be a play. Lady Macbeth certainly catalyses the play however after the largest input into the play occurs all the power is removed from her character. Finally although Lady Macbeth did convince Macbeth to take the