In Act One Scene 7, Macbeth leaves the King’s feast for the refuge of another part of the castle presumably because he cannot sustain the hypocrisy of entertaining Duncan when he is plotting to assassinate him. This withdrawal shows how disconcerted Macbeth is when facing the human reality of his plotting. Hence the soliloquy exploring his dilemna beginning: ‘ If it were done …’ The audience recognises the importance of this moment as it is pivotal to the dramatic development and reveals Macbeth’s residual morality . He knows he is wrong : ‘ only vaulting ambition,’ yet is sorely tempted to destroy his ‘kinsman’ whose ‘ virtues will plead like angels, trumpet- tongued’ . This moral and psychological impasse is dismantled by the aggressive intervention of Lady Macbeth whose personal investment in the plot to overthrow the King prevents any flexibility in her thinking and underlines her lack of appreciation of consequence.The audience witnesses her peremptory, cajoling tone:,’ why have you left the chamber’ which emphasises her anger at her plans being thwarted, then we see her attacking Macbeth as a ‘coward ‘ as well as a ‘man’ showing how dangerous their intimacy is as it allows her to exploit those areas where her husband feels vulnerable. Macbeth’s lack of child, his lack of heir makes him feel secretly insecure and even impotent. This secret feeling of powerlessness is manipulated by Lady Macbeth and perhaps reminds the audience that in tempting Macbeth’s ambition, they are also tempting his wife’s. This when the audience remembers the uneasy echo of the witches’ words when Macbeth first appears on stage, ‘ ‘ so foul and fair a day I have not seen’ we realise that the linguistic contamination will also infect Lady Macbeth through the letter which repeats the poisonous promises of the witches. Hardly surprising then that Macbeth’s wife can be viewed as a fourth witch on stage and that Shakespeare is ensuring that the infiltration of Macbeth’s language will lead to his moral unravelling : ‘ oh full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife.’ Lady Macbeth’s immaturity and lack of experience guarantee her ruthless but reckless pursuit of power. She has no understanding of the consequences of murder or violent death and her trivialisation of her husband’s scruples rebounds on in Act Five when her mind has become her enemy and her equilibrium is irrevocably destroyed.
