Lady Macbeth

At the start of the play, Lady Macbeth seems to have a very strong character - almost stronger than Macbeth's - but by the end she is reduced to being afraid of the dark. At the beginning she is Macbeth's 'dearest partner of greatness', but at the end she is his 'fiend-like queen'. She has a lust for power, and it is her goading that leads Macbeth to seize the throne of Scotland by murdering …

…Duncan. Lady Macbeth is unable, however, to confront the evil she has unleashed and is driven mad. She is often seen as a symbol of evil like the witches, but at the end she falls victim to evil just like her husband. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth increasingly shuts her out of his plans; she becomes an isolated figure, and at the end of the play it is suggested that she has committed suicide.