Viewing Lady Macbeth as 'A study in Evil’

From her manipulation of the tragic hero to the “fiend-like queen” epitaph Malcolm assigns to her, there is evidence aplenty to suggest that Lady Macbeth is “a study of evil”. Undoubtedly, a Jacobean audience would have found it difficult to perceive her as anything but evil due to her subversion of nature and social hierarchy. However, modern audiences, notably feminist critics, are more sympathetic towards the character which allows us to largely disagree with the contention in the question. Instead, it is fairer to state that she is a guilt-stricken woman who is abandoned by her husband. Thus, to say that Lady Macbeth is simply “a study of evil” is to dismiss the multi-faceted nature of her character; there is clearly more than just “evil” to her character.

Despite this, Lady Macbeth’s affiliation with the supernatural validates how she could be viewed as “a study of evil”. The supernatural is a key gothic convention and although the play predates the gothic era, Shakespeare interweaves the concept into his play. In her first soliloquy, Lady Macbeth declares that she will “pour [her] spirits in thine ear”. She also calls upon “spirits” when asking them to “unsex me, here/ fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full/ of the direst cruelty”. The semantic field of words eliciting the supernatural (“spirits”; “direst cruelty”) instantly connect Lady Macbeth to the witches. This alone would have ensured that a Jacobean audience classified her as “evil” because Shakespeare was writing during a time when witches were seen as “political and spiritual traitors”. Descriptions about the witches’ physical attributes are deliberately used by Shakespeare to further associate Lady Macbeth with the witches and the “evil soliciting” they represent. He makes it difficult for us to determine the gender of the witches with Banquo exclaiming, “you should be women…yet your beards forbid me to interpret”. In the same way, Lady Macbeth defeminises herself when she cries, “unsex me” and asking to be full of the “dunnest smoke from hell”. Arguably, at this point in the play, Lady Macbeth acts as a perversion of nature. According to Hans Bertens, “cruelty” and stoicism are typically viewed as masculine traits. By adopting such masculine traits, Lady Macbeth subverts accepted gender roles which would have left Shakespeare’s contemporaries with the view that she is “a study of evil”.

Moreover, the challenge Lady Macbeth poses to her husband’s manhood contributes to why she may be seen as “a study of evil”. In Act 1, it is clear that Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner in the marriage. Shakespeare constructs her speech with imperatives which allow her to adopt a declarative tone. She even goes as far as comparing her husband to a “poor cat” upon recognising that he is considering “breaking [his] enterprise” to her. The “poor cat” could symbolise Macbeth’s weak character and enables Lady Macbeth to use the concept of masculinity to manipulate him. Indeed, she renders that if her husband were to go through with the murder of King Duncan, he “would be so much more the man”. Shakespeare’s contemporaries would have found this as an “evil” element of her character as she threatens the male-dominated order of society. For instance, during the Restoration period, in William Davenant’s adaptation of the play, he extends the role of the “saintly” Lady Macduff to stand in stark contrast to the cold Lady Macbeth. Davenant was clearly exploring the “evil” in her character and the destructive consequences of such “evil” in a woman.

Alternatively, a modern audience may not regard this as an “evil” aspect of her character as she is presented as a defiant woman. Such a strong woman would have been unheard of to Shakespeare’s contemporaries which makes her active role all the more powerful for a modern audience. She rejects the subordinate role of being Macbeth’s wife and arguably takes control of her husband’s destiny (“Thou are Glamis, and Cawdor, and thou shalt be what thou are promised”). This discredits the view that she is a “study of evil” because she may reflect a woman breaking away from social norms and the restrictions placed on her freedom by a patriarchal society. She even says to Macbeth, “leave all the rest to me” and takes charge in making the preparations for the murder. This highlights how strong her influence on Macbeth is which is impressive, not necessarily “evil”, in the context of the Jacobean era.

Additionally, the view that she is “a study of evil” is weakened by recent feminist readings of the play which suggest that her character symbolises the collapse of the defiant woman. Feminist critic, Joan Klein, argues that by the end of the play, Lady Macbeth is “marginalised” and hence, “becomes a victim, not an instigator”. This largely reins true because when he is informed of his wife’s death in Act 5, Macbeth appears emotionless, coldly stating, “She should have died hereafter”. Regardless of her conniving manner at the start, we do feel sympathy for her as there is the indication that she committed suicide (“by self and violent hands/ took off her life”). The power balance in the relationship has clearly shifted to favour Macbeth and so, it is easy to pity Lady Macbeth.

Moreover, Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking scene in Act 5 functions as a clear example of why she cannot be fully seen as “a study of evil”. The reason being, psychoanalytic readings of the scene imply that the deterioration of her mental health parallels her over-bearing guilt. Lady Macbeth’s doctor himself remarks that his patient needs “spiritual help”. Structurally, the scene is significant as Lady Macbeth summarises all of her husband’s murders which allow us to recognise whilst she may have been seen as the instigator at the start, she becomes tormented by guilt. Her mental and physical downfall is painfully ironic because following the murder of Duncan in Act 2, she assures her husband that “a little water will clear us of this deed”. However, by Act 5, in a state of turmoil, she cries: “What, will these hands ne’re be clean?” The water which she believed would help alleviate them of their “deathly deed” has abandoned her as the realisation dawns on her that only death will give her an escape from this torment. With such a psychologically distraught character, it is impossible to merely assert that she is “a study of evil”.

Conclusively, Lady Macbeth is generally not “a study of evil”. Whilst there is no denying she is manipulative and possessed somewhat evil intentions at the start, her psychological downfall is enough to convince us that she is not simply “evil”. It does her character more justice to affirm that she is not “a study of evil”, but more so a study of the psychological consequences of “black and deep desires”.