Lady Macbeth vs. Macbeth

Although both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have done evil acts, they are not exactly the same. Lady Macbeth is a greedy and ambitious wife at the beginning. “Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse. That no compunctious visiting of nature. Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it” (I.V, 33-37)! She actually wants Macbeth to be a man and kill the king immediately. Nothing can prevent her from making Macbeth become the king. However, her conscience has caught her after, and she becomes very guilty, so she suffers from sleepwalking. She feels “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (V.I, 35-36). She cannot accept the guilt in her mind and she cannot wash off the blood from her hands. Inside her mind, she knows she is wrong and this is why her guilt has affected her. However, Macbeth is a good man at the beginning, but he has turned into a corrupted person after. Macbeth is not decisive on whether he should kill King Duncan or not. “He hath honored me of late, and I have bought golden opinion from all sorts of people” (I.VII, 33-34). He does not want to kill Duncan because Duncan treats him very well. If it is not his wife who persuades him, he may not have killed King Duncan for his own ambition. Although he is not a bad person at the beginning, he changes as his ambition becomes stronger. “To crown my thought with acts, be it thought and done” (IV.I, 155-156). He kills to consolidate his power. He keeps killing and killing and becomes a corrupted leader of the kingdom. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth seem to have reversed their roles. 

Macbeth kills Macduff's family

Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill king Duncan