Character Sketch Act 2: Lady Macbeth

In Act 2 of Macbeth Lady Macbeth’s dark side is revealed, she makes fun of Macbeth for feeling guilty about killing Duncan. “Macbeth: This is a sorry sight. Lady Macbeth: A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight” (2.2, 24-25). Lady Macbeth mocks Macbeth’s feelings and tells him he should not feel bad. She is looking at it in a way that Macbeth did what he had to do to become king and now that the deed was done there is no use feeling bad because it was necessary.

“Infirm of purpose!/ Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/ Are but as pictures; ’tis the eye of childhood/ That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,/ I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal,/ For it must seem their guilt” (2.2, 56-61). Lady Macbeth asserts herself over Macbeth here. Lady Macbeth calls him weak after he refuse to return to the scene of the crime to place the daggers as evidence against the guards, then she takes charge and decides that she must do it herself and tells Macbeth that it must be done so that the guards are thought to be guilty. From this the audience can tell that Lady Macbeth wants to get away with this murder so that her husband can become king, a title she believes he deserves.

Lady Macbeth again shows her authority over Macbeth in Act 2. “My hands are of your color, but I shame/ to wear a heart so white. I hear a knocking/ at the south entry. Retire we to our chamber./ A little water clears us of this deed” (2.2, 68-71). Lady Macbeth makes fun of Macbeth here by saying that she is just as guilty as him but isn’t acting weird and feeling bad. She is instructs Macbeth what to do and she does not panic when she hears a knocking in the distance, she keeps her cool and instructs Macbeth on what he should do so as not to get in trouble. This shows how much Lady Macbeth does not want to get caught and how strong of a character she is, but also how she seems inhuman with her lack of remorse about Duncan’s murder. She shows a comforting side when she tells Macbeth that all his guilt will be washed away once he washes his hands of Duncan’s blood.