Lady Macbeth: Difference between revisions

[[File:kifhjyddhkkhgffr_108.jpg|frame|Infirm of purpose! Give ''me'' the daggers!]]

 

 

Nagging wife of a villain does not even begin to describe this character. This lady is just as crazy as her husband (if not more so). Not only is she supportive of his "evil ambitions" but she helps him to achieve them. [[The Corrupter|She might even turn out to be the leading force behind her husband.]]

* {{spoiler|Empress Marianne vi Britannia}} turns out to be one in ''[[Code Geass]]''.

* Mrs. Rara of ''[[Dual]]'' acts as this. Her husband is struggling to be a competent scientist. She coerces him and their daughter to become evil, eventually taking over the reins.

* [[Yu Yu Hakusho|Yaminade no Itsuki]] ''[[Alternate Character Interpretation|might]]'' be a rare ''[[Yaoi Guys|male]]'' one of these. Though his way of getting Sensui to do his bidding and [[Non-Action Guy|fight on his behalf]] (sort of, [[Mind Game Ship|it's complicated]]) isn't outright nagging as much as it is [[Manipulative Bastard|passive-aggression]], [[Undying Loyalty]], and [[Corrupt the Cutie|patience for Sensui to be completely]] [[Split Personality|broken]] according to his wishes.

 

* In ''[[The Lion King|The Lion King 2]]'', Zira is this posthumously for Scar.

* Lady Kaede from [[Akira Kurosawa]] 's ''[[Ran]]'' is basically [[Lady Macbeth]] married to King Lear's son. She's a major reason that Kurosawa's ending is significantly more tragic than Shakespeare's.

* The villain's wife from ''[[Hudson Hawk]]''.

{{quote| Eddie: "It's pretty clear to me who has the balls in this marriage."}}

* Mary in ''[[Infernal Affairs]] II'', possibly with or without her husband's knowledge.

* At the end of ''[[Mystic River]]'', {{spoiler|Annabeth, wife of Jimmy Markum, is arguably revealed to be this. She comforts and encourages Jimmy to be proud of killing the wrong man for the murder of his daughter. She even goes so far as to blame the man's wife for the mistake.}}

* Sarah (played by Bridget Fonda) in ''[[Film/A Simple Plan|A Simple Plan]]'' plays this role for the protagonist, Hank (Bill Paxton).

* 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]].

* 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...}}

** The Cursors even had a betting pool going: "Which one will win when they finally try to kill each other?" {{spoiler|She won, and true to the trope, ends up getting killed within the same book.}}

 

== Live Action TV ==

* 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 [[Lady Macbeth]] is pushing her husband to <s>shank</s> kill Duncan, get rather annoyed over [[Macbeth]]'s lack of balls.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The Tomb of the Cybermen'', Kaftan fills this role expertly, supporting, encouraging, and enabling her [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] hubby Klieg at every turn, and even supplying her own badass minion, Toberman.

* In ''[[Law and Order CI]]'' there was a sister Macbeth who wanted her brother to take over a tiny African country (they're the children of said county's king) by {{spoiler|blowing up their parents and killing the detectives' boss, who had gone undercover to expose their weapons dealing. Oh, and her brother's white, American girlfriend had to go, and since he was dragging his feet about it..}}.

*** Except, throughout the first act there are several times where he expresses his dislike of Lady Macbeth's plan of murder and even says at one point that he will not go through with it (Even though he eventually does).

** Many adaptations of Macbeth play with Lady Macbeth's personality. While she is usually portrayed as scheming and manipulative, Roman Polanski's version is affectionate and meek, though no less culpable in the deed. Orson Welles' version has Lady Macbeth as simply a terrified accessory to Macbeth's desire to be king all along, and as their relationship plays out, there is even implication that he's been abusing her. One of the great things about the character is that her lines can be performed with so many different inflections and subtexts that any one of these interpretations could fit.

* In [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''Lohengrin'', the easily led Friedrich, Count of Telramund, is induced by his wife, the pagan sorceress Ortrud, to accuse the heroine Elsa of murdering her brother (whom Ortrud herself has turned into a swan), and then later to attack Elsa's husband and champion, the eponymous Grail knight. She's a bad lady.

* [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] of ''[[Hamlet]]'' has pegged Gertrude as one of these to Claudius.

== 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 [[Lady Macbeth]] for your castle. While it's not like you [[Villain Protagonist|need the encouragement]], it's always nice to have a dame who can appreciate good evil.