Shakespeare first describes Lady Macbeth as a character who has psychological power, meaning she knows how to manipulate and deceive people, including her husband, Macbeth. However, as the play progresses, we see that her strength and power begin to subside. This may be because she is a woman in a Jacobean era. Alternatively, it is important to accentuate that Lady Macbeth has strength like no other woman in the play or probably any woman of that era would know. Unfortunately, Shakespeare could be trying to illustrate that Lady Macbeth's strength was commendatory but was not enough for her to be noticed on a higher. At the exposition of the play, the first time we encounter Lady Macbeth is when she receives a letter from Macbeth about what the witches had told him about his future and what would come about. This is an interesting scene because Lady Macbeth had already come to the decision that Macbeth was going to kill Duncan so that he would be king. The playwright is trying to expose early on that Lady Macbeth isn't like all jacobean women instead she has something different about her that the audience would want to find out. Something significant about this scene in Act 1 is that Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to "take (her) milk for gall" this suggests that Lady Macbeth wants to be rid of all her feminine qualities so that her and her husband are able to go through with the action of regicide. Shakespeare could be trying to convey that Lady Macbeth is definitely not a normal Jacobean woman, instead whatever she wants she knows what she has to do to get it. One other interesting thing about this is that she hasn't even spoken to her husband and she has already come to a unanimous decision. To a Jacobean audience this would be odd because women aren't really supposed to make the decisions that is normally up to the husband. Shakespeare could also alternatively be hinting to the fact that Lady Macbeth may have some skill to be able to manipulate Macbeth into committing such a sinful act. Which is why she is even considering this plan to commit regicide. Shakespeare could be forming a persona for Lady Macbeth early on in the play which makes her seem strong but it is too early to confirm. In Act 1 Scene 7, Lady Macbeth is trying to convince Macbeth to go through with the plan to murder King Duncan. This conversation is riveting because Lady Macbeth has the credence to tell Macbeth that "when you durst do it, then you are a man". This entire statement suggests that Lady Macbeth knows how to manipulate Macbeth and get in his head. She does this by questioning his masculinity (this is not the only time she does this, she does it in Act 3 also). Doing this allows Lady Macbeth to have power over her husband. One could argue that Lady Macbeth making Macbeth feel weak gives her some strength and power. Additionally, in this scene, Lady Macbeth states something unpleasant. Lady Macbeth said she would "dash the brains out" of a child even if it were to make Macbeth king. The verb "dash" accentuates how Lady Macbeth would be so quick to do such a gruesome act as long it were to make Macbeth king or it would benefit her. Shakespeare is once again implying that Lady Macbeth does not have much of problem with violence. This once again would confuse a Jacobean audience as women of the time are supposed to look after children. In this case Lady Macbeth is doing the complete opposite. Additionally, it is important to add that Macbeth does not say much in contrast to Lady Macbeth. This could suggest that Lady Macbeth does not really care what Macbeth has to say as she has already come to a final decision. Contrastingly, this could suggest that Macbeth is tired of arguing with Lady Macbeth and should just listen to what she has to say. As we reach the end of the conversation, Lady Macbeth ends it with: "we will not fail". This suggests that there will be no room for error in the plan that she has set out. She is so confident in her plan she does not even have the fear of God inside her. That's why a Jacobean audience would find this alarming because kings are chosen by God, so committing regicide is like going against the will of God. Shakespeare could be implying that Lady Macbeth has the mental capacity to do such a thing which makes her a strong female character. However, as we move beyond and delve deeper into the play, Lady Macbeth's strength takes a mighty hit. As we saw in previous scenes, Lady Macbeth was described as "chuck" by her husband, which allowed us to believe she was being belittled and one could dare to argue neglected. Towards the end of the play Lady Macbeth falls sick and to a Jacobean audience this could be her punishment from God because of her actions and the sins she had committed. However, Shakespeare could be somewhat praising Lady Macbeth's strength because it brought her so far but her actions were getting to her which made her hallucinate and in the end committing suicide. Shakespeare could be trying to illustrate that Lady Macbeth had commendable strength but it would never be enough because she was a woman and it unfortunately caught up to her. Shakespeare explores Lady Macbeth as being a strong female character to a large extent. She broke all the stereotypes of a Jacobean woman and proved that woman do have that strength. However, it can only be for so long. Lady Macbeth has a large contrast to Lady Macduff an d Shakespeare presents that accurately as well. Overall, Lady Macbeth was a strong female character but that strength only got her so far.