Roush also note that the first two weeks show how Claire " run a charity with a brutally iron fist " . While Frank is Machiavellian , Claire present a woman urging on her husband 's assertion of power in the image of Lady Macbeth . Hank Stuever of The Washington Post describe her as an ice @-@ queen wife . She encourage his vices while noting her disapproval of his weakness saying " My husband doesn ’ t apologize ... even to me . " Nancy deWolf Smith of The Wall Street Journal describe what she see of their relationship in the first two episodes as pivotal to the show 's success : " Benign though they may seem — and their harmless air is what make the Underwoods so effective as political plotters — this is a power couple with the same malignant chemistry as pairs of serial killers , where each need the other in order to become lethal " .