Lady Macbeth to Blame?
By Ashlee Loomis
Why is she to Blame?
Lady Macbeth wanted the thrown all to herself for Macbeth, but in order for that to happen, the current king, Duncan, would have to be taken out of the picture, "Once alone, Macbeth imagines a dagger leading him toward the king's chamber. When he hears a bell, the signal from Lady Macbeth, he knows it is time to go to Duncan's room" (Act Two Scene 1). The signal that Lady Macbeth gives, tells Macbeth that it is time to kill Duncan. Another reason Lady Macbeth is to blame is, Macbeth told her that he did not want to proceed with the act, she then responds with "What a beast wasn't then that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man"(Act Two Scene 2). This was her way of insulting Macbeth's manhood, by saying he wasn't a man if he didn't kill Duncan. Most importantly, Lady Macbeth made Macbeth keep in all the secrets and tell no one what they had done. This makes Macbeth go crazy and lose his mind. Macbeth is at dinner with some friends and he sees the ghost of Banquo, this is when he really truly loses his mind. He then says, "Which of you have done this?"(Act Three Scene Four). After this happens, it is clear that Macbeth has lost his mind.
In my opinion, Lady Macbeth was obviously the main reason for Macbeth's downfall, especially because of the reasons listed above. She started out in the very beginning of the play as an evil and cruel woman and towards the end of the book/play after the "ghost" really started messing with Macbeth's conscious, the killing of Duncan really affected her and how she acts in the rest of the play.