After Macbeth himself, Lady Macbeth is the penultimate person in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. And although she does not survive to the end, her influence on Macbeth continues throughout the play. She is the most influential person in Macbeth's downfall, after the witches. However, her relationship with him is much deeper than that of the witches. I believe that the witches only act as a trigger to set off the events of the play and that Lady Macbeth herself was the driving force behind Macbeth's actions. It is she whom he contacts when he meets the witches and immediately entrusts her with the prophecy given to him. The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is essential to understanding a major theme of this play. On the surface, this appears to be an equal partnership. However, I believe that Lady Macbeth was the dominant character of the two; she could have persuaded Macbeth to do anything if she wanted. And although she does not openly exercise her power over him in public, in private she often uses humiliation and emotional corruption to manipulate Macbeth into carrying out her will. The first scene in which we see Lady Macbeth is Act 1 Scene 5, in the first half. of which she reads the letter sent by Macbeth about his encounter with the witches, and about halfway through Macbeth enters himself, having overtaken the messenger who delivered the letter. We immediately see the nature of his relationship with Macbeth and get a strong sense of his character. The first thing you notice of course is that Lady Macbeth is reading a letter that must have been written just hours after the events contained therein occurred. This is a letter from Macbeth, containing potentially treacherous information about his meeting with...... middle of paper ......Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992. Works consulted Bradley AC Shakespearean Tragedy 1912 pp. 468-9 Curry, Walter. Shakespeare's philosophical models. London: Peter Smith Mass, 1968. Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakepeare, New York, Viking Publishing, 1993. Harbage, Alfred, Macbeth, Middlesex England, Penguin Publishing, 1956. Magill, Masterplots- Volume 6, New Jersey, Salem Press, 1949. Paul, Henry N. The Royal Play of Macbeth 1950 pp. 213-17 Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism of Shakespeare's tragedies. A course of lectures on drama and literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965. Steevens, George. Shakespeare, The Critical Legacy. Flight. 6. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. Wills, Gary. Lady Macbeth and Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.