What is the role of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'?

Lady Macbeth is a crucial character in the play, as it is her manipulation of Macbeth that leads to him aiming to fulfill the witches' prophecies. It is her who initially convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan by telling him he would be "so much more the man", showing how her role is to encourage Macbeth to satisfy what she views to be his destiny. From this it can also be argued she represents ambition moreso than her husband, who initially does not have the same desire to be King. Moreover, as she is the female protagonist, she helps represent what attitudes towards women were in Elizabethan England. There is lots of evidence in the play that women are typically viewed as being weak, seen as she faints in one instance, and the women who aren't weak like herself on many occasions, are seen as vicious, cruel and, eventually, mad. Therefore her role in the play could be seen to show conventional sexism at the time when Shakespeare was writing, and to discourage women from taking power, shown by her suicide.