Lady Macbeth & Duessa: A Comparison
Lady Macbeth (From Macbeth) or Duessa (from The Faerie Queene) which was a more sinister character? Lady Macbeth aided her husband in killing the King of Scotland. Duessa seduced Redcrosse and attempted to lead him into sin. Both are singularly evil characters. But which is worse?
Lady Macbeth
One of Lady Macbeth’s faults was too much ambition.
She wanted Macbeth to be king and she was willing to do anything to get what she believed was rightfully theirs. Her ambition led her to murder.
In the heat of the moment, she claims to be as bold as any man, bolder even.
She proclaims herself braver than her husband when she sees how shaken he is after committing murder.
She brushed off murder as one brushed off one’s chores as if it were no more important than doing the washing. This leads me to a key question.
Did Lady Macbeth kill anyone? Technically speaking, no, she didn’t stick a knife into anyone. At least not physically. Lady Macbeth killed Macbeth spiritually. She talked him into the murder which led to his deterioration and death. She led Macbeth and herself into mortal sin which was their downfall in the end. Yes, Macbeth was the one who killed Duncan, the guards, and later Macduff’s family and household, and he is responsible for those deaths, but that does not change the fact that everything has a beginning and Duncan’s murder was born in the Macbeths’ hearts.
Another key point is Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience. Lady Macbeth is a bullying wife who turns out to be a coward. She convinced herself and her husband to take part in a deed that had no going back. But once the murder was committed, their personalities switched. Macbeth was bold, and Lady Macbeth was cowardly. Her guilty conscience led to her self-destruction.
Duessa
Duessa was a witch disguised as a beautiful woman. She was also the woman who attempted to seduce Redcrosse and lead the knight into sin. She was the “daughter of Deceit and Shame”. Similar to Lady Macbeth, Duessa did not kill anyone physically but attempted to murder Redcrosse spiritually. Duessa represents the Scarlet woman from the book of Revelation and is depicted riding the Beast, who is also from the bible.
Duessa, while sharing similarities with Lady Macbeth, has a key difference: Conscience. Duessa is the embodiment of sin, while Lady Macbeth, as Miss Marple, would say,
“so many people seem to me not to be either bad or good, but simply, you know, very silly.” (Agatha Christie, Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories).
True, Lady Macbeth is a bad person, but rather a silly bad person, if you will. Killing the king and thinking you can get away with it densifies as ‘silly’.
Nevertheless, that does not mean that Lady Macbeth was blameless. Lady Macbeth knew what she was doing when she convinced her husband to commit murder. That is not to say that her soul was unsavable, indeed, I think she could have been saved if her husband had been bolder and declined her suggestion to murder Duncan. Being a coward at heart, she probably would not have gone on to kill Duncan on her own. Duessa, on the other hand, is an irredeemable woman. She is a handmaid to the devil. Duessa feels no fleeting feeling of remorse, she only regrets that she did not lead Redcrosse to his literal and spiritual death.
Conclusion
Of the two, despite them being thoroughly evil people, are wonderfully crafted characters. When it comes to which is worse, I believe that Duessa is the worst of the two. Duessa lacks all feelings except anger and hatred, Lady Macbeth is a flawed human who took a wrong turn in life. Lady Macbeth is a woman who made grave mistakes in life and dearly paid for them. One was led by the devil, the other by greed. One by human passions, the other by demonic passions. The worst of the two is evident.
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