Lady Macbeth is mysteriously absent during Act 4; it doesn’t become clear why until the beginning of Act 5. Lady Macbeth has started to be overcome with guilt from all the blood that is on her hands and her husband’s. This is an interesting change in her character, at first she was the one that was all for killing Duncan and then Banquo but as time went on and the murdering kept going on she started to become disturbed. As Macbeth became more ruthless and kept having people murdered in cold blood Lady Macbeth realized what an awful path she had led him down. She feels especially bad because Macbeth had tried to back out of the original plan a couple of times only to be forced back into it by herself.
Lady Macbeth’s absence is important because it shows the reader or audience the intense grief and tormentation that she is going through. She used to live a nice normal life until she became greedy and pushed her husband into becoming a monster that she is unable to live with. The thing that torments her most is that it all stemmed from her, and not her husband.
With Lady Macbeth not appearing in this Act the audience is introduced to another strong willed wife, Lady Macduff. She talks to her kids about how their father is dead even though he has just left them unprotected. This takes strength because Lady Macduff must have loved her husband very much but when he left without leaving protection for them her only words to describe him are “dead” and “traitor”. This is similar to Lady Macbeth because both women see dramatic changes in their husbands, and because of these changes become sullen.
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