Lady Macbeth In The Tragedy Of Macbeth; The Iron Butterfly

Lady Macbeth in The Tragedy of Macbeth; the "Iron Butterfly"

In William Shakespeare's, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the dominator of the play. Lady Macbeth's character is not as eclectic as her husband's but it is just as dramatic.
Lady Macbeth has a rich and fascinating combination of qualities. She is not a monster without feeling; her husband adores her, for example, "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck," (III, ii, 45). Macbeth also refers to Lady Macbeth as his dear partner. Lady Macbeth is horrified by blood and during her sleepwalking soliloquy she refers to her little hand suggesting a delicate nature and stature by uttering this: "All the perfumes / of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (V, i, 43-44). All of this, however, does very little to soften her true nature.
She is sly and artful as she urges Macbeth to kill Duncan and she is particularly treacherous when she continually urges him to shake off his torments. For example, in this scene from the play, Shakespeare gives the reader an idea of the twist that he gives her personality and how ruthless she can be:
I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this. (I, vii, 54-59).
In the next examples you can see how she persuades Macbeth to ignore his torments of his guilt of the...

Lady Macbeth In The Tragedy Of Macbeth; The Iron Butterfly

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