There are certain aspects of Lady Macbeth's character that suggests she is good and therefore her downfall increases my sympathy for her by the end of act 5. But I would also argue that she entailed evil to fuel her sleeping ambition that would make her nemesis, her mental collapse, fully justified.

Lady Macbeth's role as a supporting wife at the start of the play exceeds the duties of a 'normal' wife. She is the 'Eve' to Macbeth's 'Adam' and is tempted. Although Macbeth hints at the idea of taking the crown in his letter home, it is Lady Macbeth's ruthless determination to make him king that persuaded him to murder Duncan. Did she do this in the interests of Macbeth or was it to fulfil her own ambition? I would argue that it was to fulfil her own ambition because she decided straight away that murder was the best option to take without any regard to guilt, in this view I have no sympathy for Lady Macbeth because it is a sign of her inner evilness.

To commit the murder of King Duncan La

Although I have expressed unsympathetic views about Lady Macbeth, I do feel that a certain amount of sympathy arises from Act 5 Scene 1, which tends to hide her previous evil deeds. Lady Macbeth has not been seen by the audience for some time, this is because Macbeth has shut her out of his life and she has become isolated and lonely. Lady Macbeth's mental collapse is caused by her acknowledgement of her share of guilt and is expressed by images of Duncan's blood, "...will these hands ne'er be clean?..."

This is also a contrast to her belief that water cleanses the conscience of any guilt. Lady Macbeth's mental collapse reinforces the idea of Scotland being diseased under Macbeth's reign and because he was not put their by divine right he cannot cure her.

From the evidence I have given about the two sides of Lady Macbeth that influences my decision, I am rooted in a sympathetic paradox between Lady Macbeth's mental downfall, which increases my sympathy for her, and her evil ambition, which makes me feel unsympathetic towards her. My feelings for an

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