How are characters presented as disturbed in Macbeth, Laboratory and My Last Duchess?

It is important to be able to define what ‘disturbed’ actually means in order to answer this question to a high standard of explanation. Disturbed is an adjective and it is the showing of symptoms of mental illness, severe psychosis and neurosis. It is also useful to consider the audiences of each poem or play to elaborate on explanations. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is set during the eleventh century is about the emotional manipulation of individuals and the lust for power and the upmost authority over a victorious Scotland featuring an Elizabethan audience whereas Robert Browning’s poems, Laboratory and My Last Duchess, is about the overcoming of jealously and betrayal set during the Victorian era with a Victorian audience.
Macbeth in the beginning of the play is a noble, humble and honourable person who, without question would sacrifice his life for the liberty of his King, Duncan. As the play progresses he attitude towards life in general changes completely, mainly due to the pressure that Lady Macbeth inflicts on him. However, Lady Macbeth has quite a surprising personality as she is not the stereotypical Elizabethan woman. Lady Macbeth is expected to be fragile, meek, innocent and comforting but in this unusual circumstance Lady Macbeth would very much rather “dashed the brains out” of an infant child. This is plain evidence to suggest that Lady Macbeth is of no stable condition. In addition to this surprising fact Lady Macbeth is cunning and bloodthirsty. She demands Macbeth in Act one, Scene Five to “look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”. It is very common for a man to demand a female to pursue tasks but for a woman to demand a man, especially of something like sacrilege, is very unusual. This could mean two things, Macbeth is weak and is unable to depict his own decisions or/and that Macbeth is mentally deteriorating. Macbeth reason with Lady Macbeths orders in his soliloquy in Act one, Scene seven and from the things he