Lady Macbeth’S Decline Into Madness In William Shakespeare’S Play "Macbeth"

Sir Isaac Newton once said that “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” For many years philosophers and mathematicians have been trying to understand the patterns in the mind. However, people are not like equations, there is no way to predict how a person will react to a situation. Even within a person’s own mind, they do not know the effects a situation will have on their mind. The human mind is fragile. Tough situations can break it.

One of the most notable examples in literature of this is Lady Macbeth’s decline into madness is a central element in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Lady Macbeth starts as a powerful character in the play, but slowly declines all the way into a madwoman. Lady Macbeth is introduced as a very strong and power hungry in the First Act. When she is introduced in scene 4, she can be seen as being a very controlling character. She is first seen with a messenger then with her husband, Macbeth. She states in reference to him that “and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;” (Act 1, Scene 5). She means that she does not believe that he has the courage to carry out the deeds needed in order to make him king. By doing this, she shows that she has the courage and the determination to carry out whatever is necessary to make her husband finally become king as promised. This establishes her as a very dominant character in her first few lines. The way that she doubts her husband is showing that she has most of the control in the relationship. She says that “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.” (Act 1, Scene 5). This further proves the point that she believes that her husband is weak. This quote means that he has the ambition to do what is necessary to be king but isn’t mean enough to do it. By saying this, it shows that she thinks that she is the one that can do those things for him.

Later on in the scene, Lady Macbeth is approached by a messenger who tells her the news that King Duncan is coming to visit the Macbeths. When he leaves she suggests her plan to murder him by saying “That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.” (Act 1, Scene 5) She says that to mean that she plans to execute the murder of the king when he comes to visit. These passages show that Lady Macbeth believes and acts as the tough one between Macbeth and her. Towards the middle of the play, Lady Macbeth is seen questioning her pushing Macbeth to commit the murder. While they are talking after the murder, she says “Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” (Act 3, Scene 2) What she means by this is that it is better to be the one murdered than be alive and worrying about it for the rest of your life. She is suggesting that the murder may not fix all the problems that she thought it would. Macbeth also notices that she is getting weaker with each murder. He says to her “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck.” He is saying that he won’t tell her anything until it is over. These are both different to how the play started out. She is starting to grow weaker.

The last act of the play, Lady Macbeth is going very mad. She has been sleepwalking mindlessly. When she is examined by the doctor, she is attempting to wash away imaginary blood off of herself. She says “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!” (Act 5, Scene 1) She can’t get the spot out because she is imagining it. She sees the blood in her head because of the murders she helped commit and how she can never wash the blood off her hands of the people who died. There are multiple spots because multiple people died. She says that it’s time to do it because she is repeating the murders over and over in her head with no end. She emphasizes Hell because she believes that she is already there. Another similar scene is when she interrupts herself talking about how the murdered people had family. She interrupts with “What, will these hands ne'er be clean?” (Act 5, Scene 1) She is calling out like that in the middle of her talking because the more she thinks about the murders, the worse she feels. She knows that she can’t take them back and that she will never feel clean again. It is announced that in Act 5, Scene 5 that she has killed herself over the guilt.

This is the final stage of madness as she ends it all then. Starting as one of the strongest characters in the whole play, Lady Macbeth contrasts herself by slipping into madness. In the beginning, she is powerful and determined to be the boss of the whole murder of Duncan. Somewhere along the way, she begins to feel guilt that the murders are spiraling out of control. In the middle of the play, she is guilty and not directly involved in the murder. Macbeth tries to keep her out of it. Finally, she is seen at the end as being completely gone mad over guilt. The final step of her madness is when she kills herself. The descent is unexpected when you meet her in the beginning. When the reader watches her guilt grow, they understand that she is further from reality.