Passage Analysis -Tragedy

Being short, I'll analyze Act 5, Scene 1. The whole thing. Firstly, the doctor and nurse are concerning themselves with Lady Macbeth's involvement in the crimes. However, they seem to be surprised more at the fact that she herself is involved, not the fact that Macbeth, also mentioned, has knowledge of it. After all, the nurse heard this before getting the doctor and neither of the two turned from trying to treat her due to this knowledge. It seems that they're expecting Macbeth to be involved, not Lady Macbeth. Thus, Lady Macbeth has been getting away with murder until now. No one suspects her, yet Macbeth is apparently very suspicious. Of course, the irony is that she orchestrated the beginning of this whole story. She is possibly the most responsible for the novel's events.

However, she was kept oblivious of Banquo's murder plans. From her quote on lines 44-45, she may also have been oblivious to the murder of Macduff's family. She's only really responsible for the one murder of Duncan, and she only carried up the daggers! Now Shakespeare's got to be stressing that all of these murders are her fault and the respective blood is on her hands. If it weren't for her pushing Macbeth, none of this would have happened. She is the real slaughterer here. And, interestingly enough, she was the one that was aggressive in the beginning. Now she's even more nervous than Macbeth was then. A sort of role reversal here. Now she's wishing she didn't push Macbeth to get involved in any of this. Sure, the king for the crown, but not everybody else around...

Guilt by association is the main point here. Guilt in two ways, in fact: legal and personal. She's responsible for these murders. She knows they're her fault. And she later kills herself for it. It's a little tragic in the sense that she ended up involved in a good deal of blood after Duncan, and having only made that one bad decision, but she is as guilty as Macbeth. She pays the price as well. Perhaps Shakespeare is also attempting to stress that, despite the appearance of being a good idea, it can be quite the opposite and much more than bargained for. A little evil goes a long way, so to speak. Better not to commit any one crime so as not to be guilty of any further, as it were. Another amusing point is that the nurse and doctor seem sympathetic to her. Again, it's an unfortunate mistake, but she is still responsible for it.