In the modern era, the roles and behaviors expected of women have become startling similar to those expected of men.  This belief has arisen from the post-modern era, a belief that all are equal.  This motto has unfortunately been taken too far, with many often believing that the differences between men and women are rather insignificant.  Common observation, as well as science, teaches otherwise – they tell of the marked difference in both the physical and psychological makeup between men and women.  In most, if not all, cultures, there are certain duties and behaviors associated with a specific gender.  With this fact in mind, several critics of Shakespeare’s Macbeth comment that while both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did involve themselves in and condone murder for their own selfish ends, which defines both as evil characters, Lady Macbeth is regarded as “supernaturally evil” while Macbeth is relegated to the lesser, more normal class of “morally evil”.  This classification as “supernaturally evil” fits Lady Macbeth’s actions like a glove, especially considering that women of Shakespeare’s day were supposed to be quiet, peaceable, and meek.

Lady Macbeth is introduced near the end of the Act I.  This late introduction befits a normal female character, considering the lesser status women held in Shakespeare’s day.  However, Shakespeare promptly proceeds to shatter the belief that Lady Macbeth is a normal woman with her first speech.  This late introduction, which leads the reader to regard Lady Macbeth as a normal female character, combined with the immediate dispelling of that belief, serves to draw attention to the fact that Lady Macbeth is not the run-of-the-mill female character.  But how is Lady Macbeth “supernaturally evil”?

The word “supernatural” literally means “above or exceeding nature”.  Often supernatural is regarded as a metaphysical characteristic.  However it can also have a more mundane meaning of “having a characteristic that is not naturally found in that specific object or person.”  This characteristic may include metaphysical powers or abilities, but it also may not.  Lady Macbeth is a prime example of a completely “mundane” supernatural.  In her first speech, after hearing that the king, Duncan, was coming to her castle, Lady Macbeth cries to the spirits, not to give her metaphysical powers, but rather to “unsex [her] here,” (1,5,42) and to “Come to [her] woman’s breasts,/ And take [her] milk for gall,” (1,5,48-49).  Lady Macbeth, in essence, asks to be rid of the qualities of a woman, which she views as timid and weak, and to take on the characteristics of a man, which she views as uncompromising and willing to murder.  This change in mental gender is supernatural, both in the way it was brought about – Lady Macbeth asked spirits to effect the change – as well as the change itself.  Even Macbeth noted this change in his wife, remarking that she should only bear male children because her “undaunted mettle should compose/ Nothing but males.”(1,7,73-74).

The supernatural is also regarded as having the ability to influence the mundane world beyond what any merely physical being could do.  This ability is also quite clearly shown in Lady Macbeth over the course of the play.  Macbeth shied away from the possibility of murder, saying that Duncan’s virtues “will plead like angels”(1,7,19) and that evil deeds “return/ to plague the inventor”(1,7,9-10).  Macbeth was a general in an army – not unused to the sight of death – , yet even he, so mighty a warrior, shied away from the murder of such a wise and trusting ruler.  To this Lady Macbeth rebuked and persuaded him, saying that he would only be a real man if he “durst do it,” (1,7,49).  Not many people have the power to persuade and incite others to cold-blooded murder, yet Lady Macbeth persuades her husband with a frightening ease indicative of more-than-natural persuasive ability.

Macbeth, in direct contrast to his wife, fell into the more “normal” category of evil.  His moral decay was not abrupt like Lady Macbeth’s, but was a slower process of degradation that was started by the witches, prodded on by his wife, and finally consummated by his own actions.  This slow process of moral decay is a mundane one – no naturally good person suddenly starts murdering with a clean conscious and a wild abandon.  The process by which that is possible is a slower, more natural decay.

Macbeth, after initially hearing the three witches’ prophecy, was not inclined to any sort of foul play to bring about the prophecy’s truths, remarking that if fate had crowned him thane of Cawdor, then “chance may crown me,/ Without my stir.”  The idea of condoning murder is initially fantastical to him.  Only when does the king mention that he will visit Macbeth’s castle does the thought of killing enter Macbeth’s mind.  Even as the thought occurs to him, Macbeth recoils in horror, stating that Duncan is at his castle in “double trust/ First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,” (1,7,12-13), and to kill Duncan would be a treacherous act of disloyalty.  Even after killing the king, Macbeth was still horrified by what he had done, and refused to enter the king’s chamber again to frame the chamberlains.  Later, after having Banquo killed, Macbeth “sees” Banquo’s ghost.  The ghost haunts Macbeth for a while, prompting him to cry out for it to leave, to “quit [his] sight! Let the earth hide thee!”(3,5,94).  Even now, after killing the king and condoning further murders, Macbeth is still troubled by his conscience, as is evidenced by the ghost of Banquo that he “sees”.  His moral decay, although it has progressed quite far, has not gone so far as for the murder of a friend to be of no trouble to him.

Macbeth’s final stage of moral decay, a stage of uncaring for any life at all, begins when he orders the murders of the wife and children of Macduff.  His ability to coldly dispose of innocent life with no compunction is evidenced by the fact that these murders, as well as the past murders, no longer lay on his conscience.  By this time Lady Macbeth has diminished as a main character; her importance as an instigator of murder and also her needing a man’s character have diminished to nothing because Macbeth has take over those actions.  And just as the greater a power is, the worse the consequences are when it goes wrong.  So does Lady Macbeth’s supernatural evil finally turn on herself when it has no outward outlets.  The manner of her death – offstage and not detailed – also fit in with her supernatural evil.  Just as the supernatural is often mysterious, so is the manner and result of her death.  Macbeth’s death also fits in with his more normal morally evil character.  After Macbeth dies in a swordfight with Macduff, the results are physically shown when Macduff carries Macbeth’s severed head to Malcolm.

Just as Macbeth’s moral evil was evidenced by his slow, natural decay into utter evil, Lady Macbeth’s supernatural evil was characterized by her sudden, abrupt descent into evil as well as her mysterious end.