but also kill two more men in cold blood. Lady Macbeth is still strongly in control as the play proceeds and is able to handle crises very well which is shown at the banquet incident where Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo. Lady Macbeth is quick to lie for Macbeth to conceal what is really happening. As Macbeth progresses with his evil acts, however, Lady Macbeth starts to go mad which is almost like what her prophecy mentioned. She also hallucinates like her husband but this time about trying to cleanse her hands of the blood that will not wash off. Even though she may be a strong character greatly supporting her husband, she is reduced and battered by her evil deeds and her conscience which eventually drive her insane. She then kills herself when unable to remove the "damned spot". At his wife’s suicide Macbeth has already thrown away his conscience, so much so, that Macbeth continues to commit even more evil acts. Over the course of the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth greatly change with respect to their characters and their personalities. Although Macbeth was weak at first it was the strong Lady Macbeth who helped him through the first murder. Due to the effort put into controlling Macbeth and his conscience, she lost control of hers and in turn became mentally ill and killed herself. Thus in the end it was worthy to call Macbeth and his wife "a dead butcher and his fiend like queen" but it must not be forgotten that at the beginning of the play Macbeth and his wife were ordinary nobles at the time. They both had tragic flaws which included being too greedy and ambitious for their own good. These flaws became the cause of their bloody downfall....
