Lady Macbeth 's Path to Destruction There is a common theme in William Shakespeare’s plays of characters taking their own lives. This tragic event is shown in his works of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, this theme is present when Lady Macbeth takes her own life at the end of the play. Lady Macbeth begins as a strong woman, eager for Macbeth to murder the king, but she starts to spiral downward when Macbeth breaks her original plan. As we move throughout the play, we see her change from a strong, courageous woman to someone who apparently takes her own life. This is because as things stop going her way, she doesn’t know how to handle it and fears everyone will find out what they have done. Lady Macbeth
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It all starts to go wrong for her as soon as Macbeth kills the guards and announces it to everyone without telling her first. She responds to this news by fainting after she says, “Help me hence ho!” (2.3.138). Some believe she said this as a distraction to get everyone 's attention off of Macbeth, however in this understanding she actually was distraught by the news she just heard. This is a moment where Lady Macbeth starts to realize things are not going the way she wanted them to. Later, she starts to recognize that after all the harm she and Macbeth have made, nothing good has come of it. She says, “Naught’s had, all 's spent,/ Where our desire is got without content” (3.2.5-6). This indicates that she is regretting all she has done because it has not given her the power and prestige she wanted, and it is only making her feel worse about herself. Lastly, a big turning point in Lady Macbeth’s stability was at the banquet when Macbeth started to talk to the ghost in front of all the guests. She doesn’t really know how to even handle the situation because Macbeth is almost admitting to all the crimes he has done. She says to try to calm him down, “You have displaced the mirth, broke the good/ Meeting/ With most admired disorder” (3.4.132-134). Macbeth is ruining the party and he needs to control himself. This is a huge moment that affects Lady Macbeth. She is seeing her husband totally break down in front of all the guests and it makes her question whether her plan was a good idea. These moments in the play really show where Lady Macbeth starts to break
It all starts to go wrong for her as soon as Macbeth kills the guards and announces it to everyone without telling her first. She responds to this news by fainting after she says, “Help me hence ho!” (2.3.138). Some believe she said this as a distraction to get everyone 's attention off of Macbeth, however in this understanding she actually was distraught by the news she just heard. This is a moment where Lady Macbeth starts to realize things are not going the way she wanted them to. Later, she starts to recognize that after all the harm she and Macbeth have made, nothing good has come of it. She says, “Naught’s had, all 's spent,/ Where our desire is got without content” (3.2.5-6). This indicates that she is regretting all she has done because it has not given her the power and prestige she wanted, and it is only making her feel worse about herself. Lastly, a big turning point in Lady Macbeth’s stability was at the banquet when Macbeth started to talk to the ghost in front of all the guests. She doesn’t really know how to even handle the situation because Macbeth is almost admitting to all the crimes he has done. She says to try to calm him down, “You have displaced the mirth, broke the good/ Meeting/ With most admired disorder” (3.4.132-134). Macbeth is ruining the party and he needs to control himself. This is a huge moment that affects Lady Macbeth. She is seeing her husband totally break down in front of all the guests and it makes her question whether her plan was a good idea. These moments in the play really show where Lady Macbeth starts to break