Macbeth's Response to Lady Macbeth's Death

When Macbeth is told of Lady Macbeth’s death in Act 5 scene 5, his response seems uncaring, as if her death is meaningless to him. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has been influencing his decisions and cleaning up after his messes. Now that she is dead, Macbeth has to face the consequences of his actions by himself. He says of life, “it is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (lines 29-31). This is a way of reassuring himself that his actions are meaningless. If life is just a mess of sound and fury, his angry outbursts and murdering is normal and expected, and he then doesn’t have to own up to the consequences. He can assure himself he is invincible to them, even as evidence to the contrary piles up following this speech. The problem with this is that it was Lady Macbeth shielding him from consequence before, framing others for the murder of Duncan, reminding him to wash his hands, and creating a cover story when he sees the ghost. When told of his wife’s death, Macbeth reveals how truly oblivious he was to her crucial role. He says “she should have died hereafter. There would have been time for such a word” (lines 20-21), suggesting that if she had died later, perhaps at a more convenient time for him, he could have given her eulogy more effort. This is absurd; if time drags on as he continues on to claim it does, there will be time to properly eulogize her. But Macbeth is implying here that if he cannot come up with the perfect words on the spot, he can never say what his wife meant to him. It would appear that what is most concerning to Macbeth after learning of her death is that he says the right thing. This concern with appearances shows no real care for his wife, which is frustrating and ironic as she worked so hard to keep his appearance of power and sanity intact. Macbeth compares life to a shadow, and to a play. Again, it is all meaningless upkeep of appearances, yet it was Lady Macbeth who did the upkeep for him, and without her, Macbeth falls. Immediately following this speech, Macbeth learns that Birnam Wood is coming to him, the first sign that his death is coming. This, too, is just an appearance, as the army approaching him has taken tree branches as camouflage, and the wood itself is not actually moving. But appearances matter, and as Lady Macbeth’s upkeep of Macbeth’s appearance of sanity and innocence kept him in power for a short time, the appearance of the moving forest does signify that his death is coming. Macbeth may think that life signifies nothing, but these shadows and players influence each other, at the very least.