Lady Macbeth, Macbeth

"Whats done cannot be undone."

Behind every great man, there is a great women and Lady Macbeth definitely proves this in Shakespeare’s, Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a strong, courageous, skillful and supporting wife of Macbeth.
When Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth informing her that the witches have told him, he will be king someday; Lady Macbeth quickly takes initiative and begins working towards the coronation of her husband. She however fears that her husband cannot do what has to be done (committing regicide) to fulfill the prophecy because he, “is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness.” The audience is introduced to Lady Macbeth as a clever, acumen and thoughtful wife, who at the end of the day seeks her husband’s best interest and will do anything to obtain it. She commands, “…spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts, [to] unsex (1.5.47)” her and in by doing so, she is willing to sacrifice her femininity to, “stop up th’ access and passage to remorse. (1.5.21)” Shakespeare now begins to play on the prejudice that women are emotionally weak, and to be strong and “get the job done” one has to be of the male gender. This character development of Lady Macbeth is also very intriguing, she understands the limitations placed on her by both sex and society but she sure doesn’t let that hinder her goals and plans to aid and abet Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth willingly takes charge of the preparation of the killing of Duncan by getting the king’s guards drunk and even laying out the daggers for the murder. When Macbeth begins to have cold feet about killing him, Lady Macbeth persuades him by questioning his manhood. She is so skillful and somewhat cunning that she gets Macbeth to committee regicide.
The bravery, courage and ability to keep up with appearances Lady Macbeth displays are just applaudable. When Macbeth returns from killing the king, covered in blood and guilt and has the dagger used for the murder, Lady Macbeth takes charge by telling him to go wash himself off the blood and guilt and when he is too afraid to return the dagger to the crime scene, Lady Macbeth boldly takes it back. When Macbeth begins to see the ghost of Banquo during a party and causes a scene, Lady Macbeth quickly provides an excuse for this out of character behavior.
Shakespeare ultimately uses Lady Macbeth’s humanity or more specifically her femininity against her. His final depiction of Lady Macbeth is highly deplorable. He reduces a strong, goal driven and swift woman to a guilt-ridden, sleep walking/confessing wife. He belittles her by denying her the dignity of verse during her last appearances; her last speech is in prose, this is the first for a major Shakespearean character in a tragedy. It is implied that Lady Macbeth kills herself while sleep walking because she couldn’t live with the truth about the deeds she had committed. She repeats the words, “What’s done cannot be undone (5.1.35)” and vigorously washes her hands; wishing that she could do things differently.
Lady Macbeth has proven to be one of the most if not the strongest, astute, cunning and compelling female character in a Shakespearean tragedy and consequently suffers the very fate every single smart female character suffers, an unjust, untimely and often humiliating death.