Macbeth

Lady Macbeth dies offstage, most likely by suicide, after her guilt drives her into madness.

By the final act, she is no longer the ruthless figure who once pushed Macbeth to murder Duncan. Instead, she is sleepwalking through the castle, obsessively trying to wash imagined blood from her hands and crying, “Out, damned spot!” Her mind is trapped in the memory of the crime, and she relives moments from the murders in fragments of speech. This behavior shows that the guilt she once believed she could ignore has completely overtaken her, turning inward as psychological torment.

Soon after this breakdown, a cry is heard from within the castle, and Macbeth is told simply that “the Queen […] is dead.” No details are given onstage, but the surrounding context of her madness and overwhelming guilt points strongly to her having taken her own life.

Lady Macbeth’s death marks the collapse of the ambition that once defined her. Early in the play, she calls on spirits to strip away her conscience so she can act without remorse. By the end, that attempt fails completely: she cannot escape guilt, and it destroys her.