Analysis of how Lady Macbeth changes throughout the play "Macbeth" and the way Shakespeare makes his scenes dramatically effective.

To gradually change your character over years of experience is beneficial, but a rapid deterioration of character through rash actions and extraordinary events is detrimental. In the play of Macbeth, Shakespeare creates one of his strongest and most memorable female characters; the play sees Lady Macbeth's disintegration from sanity to madness, enhanced by Shakespeare's inventive and powerful language and stagecraft.

In the earlier scenes, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as ambitious and manipulative. In Act 1 Scene 5 her ambition drives her to unite with evil. She calls on malevolent spirits to take away her gentle traits and replace them with strength and cruelty in order to incite murder "Fill me from the crown to the toe-top full of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood". She doesn't want compassion to restrain her plans, so she feels it necessary to loose her femininity which is a symbol of sensitivity and weakness.

Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.

English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...

The sleepwalking Lady Macbeth

She says 'Come to my women's breasts and take my milk for gall', to rid herself of motherly stature. Her speech consists of imperatives giving it urgency and determination; 'Come...make thick...Stop'.

In Scene 7 Lady Macbeth demonstrates persuasive power over her husband. She charms Macbeth, motivates him to fulfil his dreams 'Which thou esteemst the ornament of life?', but then taunts him 'To be the same in thine own act and valour, As thou art in desire?' and manipulates him using rhetorical questions. The line 'And live a coward' shows Lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth is gutless and compares Macbeth to a proverb 'Like poor cat I'th'adage?' implying Macbeth knows what he wants but is too weak to achieve it. She questions his masculinity 'When you durst do it, then you were a man' pointing out his pusillanimity. She educes his guilt 'had you so sworn as you have done to...