Lady Macbeth

William Shakespeare, seen here in 1599 soon after the sole performance of Love's Labour's Won, (TV: The Shakespeare Code) originated the role of Lady Macbeth both as author and actor. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass)

Lady Macbeth was a character in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, being the wife of the eponymous Scot.

For the first staging of Macbeth, performed in the presence of King James I and Queen Anne, Lady Macbeth was supposed to have been played by Hal Berridge. However, he was taken ill and lay in a fever just before the production was due to start. This resulted in Shakespeare himself, who had been out of London for months, stepping into the role at short notice. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass)

Lady Macbeth also featured in The Adventures of Macbeth's Head which was a derivative play written by Francis Pearson in 1603. (PROSE: Managra)

Fictional biography

Early in Macbeth, she was sent a letter by Macbeth detailing his encounter with the Weird Sisters and their prophecy that he would eventually become the King of Scotland. Upon reading it, she realised that for him to be King, the present King had to be murdered. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass) She later "put her husband up to it".

In Act II Scene III, Lady Macbeth arrived in a court within Macbeth's castle after being woken up when Macduff found the King killed. Acting as if she did not know what was going on, she was surprised when hearing news of the King's death.

Lady Macbeth also appeared in Act III Scene IV where she was at a banquet hosted by Macbeth. In an early draft of the play, where the ghostly figure of Banquo attended the feast thanks to a perception filter given to him by the Doctor, she was concerned and asked her husband what was wrong, being as he was clearly disturbed by the apparition of a man he believed dead. After Banquo appeared and disappeared again, causing Macbeth to shake in fright, Lady Macbeth approached him, stating that he had "broke the good meeting with most direful disorder". She told Rosse not to question him after he inquired about his health and soon concluded proceedings prematurely as Macbeth grew "worse and worse", telling both Rosse and Lenox to leave. Macbeth told his wife of his intent to meet with the Weird Sisters a second time before the end of the scene.

By Act V Scene I, Lady Macbeth had developed a "new-found malady" and a doctor was sent for to discover the cure. In the early draft, the Doctor posed as this physician when meeting a gentlewoman (PROSE: The True Tragedie of Macbeth) though in the finished version this role was fulfilled by a doctor not previously seen. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass) The Doctor and gentlewoman watched as she entered with a lit candle and began to wring her hands. As the gentlewoman stated, her eyes were open but "their sense [was] shut". Lady Macbeth continued and the Doctor thought she appeared to be beset with some form of obsessive compulsive sickness. However, she then said "Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" before leaving. The gentlewoman predicted she would go directly to bed. Saying goodbye to the gentlewoman, the Doctor diagnosed Lady Macbeth with parasomnia or post-traumatic stress disorder but admitted he was "not sure". One thing was for certain, however, that she was "past curing now".

Lady Macbeth was referenced for a final time in Act V Scene III where the Doctor spoke to Macbeth about his wife's condition. He said she was "not so sick" but "troubled with thick coming fancies that [kept] her from rest". Macbeth then left his castle to "fight and lose" to the approaching English army led by Malcolm and Macduff. (PROSE: The True Tragedie of Macbeth)