Lady Macbeth: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"She'd be back. And she wouldn't burden herself with a husband this time either. Weak! He was the worst of them all, with no courage in him to be as bad as he knew he was, inside.."''|'''Lady Felmet''', ''[[Discworld/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]''}}
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Whether it's lying to cops, disposing of a body, or helping her husband overcome any uncertainty about carrying out his [[Evil Plan]], she'll do it. She might even push him to do it. She'll take charge if she has to.
When
If
Keep in mind that it's not completely necessary for this character to be the wife of the villain. It could just be his girlfriend, or lover, and in some cases it could instead be his mother or sister or even a close female friend. The important part is that this character is [[Always Female]], is sentimentally close to the villain in some way ''and'' is either his partner in crime and/or uses diverse persuasion methods to nudge him into doing things a 'good' person would not do.
The real
Compare [[God Save Us From the Queen]], [[Dark Mistress]] (where the relationship is less equal), [[Unholy Matrimony]].
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** [[Development Hell|Always assuming the promised next installment in the franchise actually ever materializes]], do you honestly expect {{spoiler|Lord Marshal Riddick}} to put up with her and her husband for long?
* In ''[[The Lion King|The Lion King 2]]'', Zira is this posthumously for Scar.
* Lady Kaede from [[Akira Kurosawa]] 's ''[[Ran]]'' is basically
** Also, of course, Asaji from ''[[Throne of Blood]]'', which actually is a [[Setting Update]] of ''[[Macbeth]]''. She's arguably even more evil than the original, implying to her husband that if he doesn't kill the daimyo first, the daimyo will kill him, and even distracting the guards.
* The female Klingon in ''[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier]]''.
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* Jezebel. Her husband, King Ahab, is described in [[The Bible]] as Israel's most morally bankrupt king, but she was even worse. Making this [[Older Than Feudalism]]. At least, western European feudalism.
** She was from another country, and believed in a different god, so she had all the Jewish priests killed...hmm...[[History Repeats|that sounds familiar]].
* Duchess Felmet in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]'' (unsurprisingly, since it was a ''[[Macbeth]]'' parody) is
* Nena Bismaquer in [[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]] novel ''For Special Services'' by John Gardner. She is eventually revealed to be {{spoiler|the daughter of Blofeld}}.
* The ''[[Codex Alera]]'' has Lady Invidia Aquitaine, to her husband High Lord Aquitainus Attis. {{spoiler|But it turns out their relationship is actually much more complicated than that, Attis is [[Magnificent Bastard|smarter than we thought]], and their goals may not be all ''that'' compatible...}}
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* Mara Vendrell in ''[[The Shield]].'' If anything she made [[Jerkass|Shane Vendrell]] even ''worse'' than he already was.
* There's a reason that Ellen Tigh of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' was given the [[Fan Nickname]] of "Lady McTigh" - she regularly used alcohol, nagging, and what we'll politely term "feminine wiles" to goad her husband, Colonel Saul Tigh, into making some of the Worst. Decisions. Ever. While she didn't quite have a [[Karmic Death]] - it was too heartwrenching to be Karmic, as {{spoiler|she was poisoned by Saul on (valid) suspicion of being a Cylon collaborator. Double irony points as 1) she did it for him, and 2) Saul and Ellen are both big damn Cylons ANYWAY}} - she was still one of the most unashamedly manipulative characters on the show.
* Spoofed in ''[[Oz]]''. The prisoners put on a play of ''[[Macbeth]]'', and when rehearsing the scene where
* ''Angela Petrelli'' from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''.
* In ''[[Dexter]]'', Lila West spends most of her screen time doing her very best to become Dexter's very own Lady Macbeth, {{spoiler|even going so far as to blow up Sgt. Doakes instead of rescuing him, just to protect Dexter from being discovered as the Bay Harbor Butcher, as well as to save him the trouble of doing it himself.}}
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== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Overlord]]'', there are two possible 'Mistresses' you can pick up. The first one is practically the antithesis of this, trying to convince you that ''helping'' people might benefit your plans for world domination. However, if you 'trade up' for her Evil Sister, Velvet, you've got a bona-fide
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', {{spoiler|Kyrie}} is eventually revealed to be this to {{spoiler|Rudolf}} in Episode 7, and is capable of extreme coldness and ruthlessness when it comes to helping her husband. She's even willing to kill for him and {{spoiler|abandon her daughter if he dies because she's not longer of any use}}.
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** Interestingly, the actual Lady Macbeth who appears is absolutely nothing like the trope. Of course, Macbeth in this version is an [[Anti-Villain]] at worst (being based more on the historical figure than the character).
** Heck, Demona tries to marry [[Macbeth]] later on. (long story.)
*** Interesting thing here: According to [[Word of God|Weisman]], there was a story idea of his
** Played with in Demona's relationship with Thailog; Goliath originaly assumes she's playing this role for him, since she's an established villain while he's a [[Cloning Blues|clone]] who's only evil because he was programmed that way... {{spoiler|but it turns out he knows full well what she is, and is manipulating ''her'' rather than the other way around. In fact, it's ultimately established that Demona has at least some genuine feelings for Thailog, but he never sees her as anything but a tool}}.
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