Letting ‘I dare not’, wait upon ‘I would’, Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, To be the same in thine own act and valour,Īs thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?Īnd wakes it now to look so green and pale, He tells her he won’t go through with their plan to kill the King, to which Lady Macbeth says… Original Text But just as he finishes going over it with the audience, in comes Lady Macbeth wondering why he’s left the dinner table. He tells Lady Macbeth that King Duncan is on his way to Dunsinane to stay with them, and she tells him exactly what they should do and that she will take care of everything, but Macbeth dismisses the idea and simply says they will discuss it further at another time.Ī few days later, King Duncan has arrived at the castle and Macbeth begins to question whether or not to really kill the King in this monologue*. She summons spirits to give her strength, make her cunning, and take away her ‘womanly’ qualities, so that she can do whatever it takes to become Queen.*įast forward, and Macbeth returns home from the war, and gee wiz are they happy to see each other, but Macbeth has some interesting news. Upon receiving this letter, Lady Macbeth becomes increasingly excited at the prospect that she could one day be Queen, and Macbeth could be King. First, that he would be Thane of Cawdor, a promotion! Two, that he would be King, an even better promotion! And three, that one of his comrade Banquo’s children would also be King, maybe not so good, but oh well what do these weird sisters know?Įither way he decides to tell his amazing wife about the prophecy by writing her a letter and sending it ahead to their home Dunsinane. On the way home from this battle he came across three weird sisters, or witches, who told him of a prophecy in three parts. Now to the start of the play In this scene, Macbeth is returning home from a bloody but victorious battle. However, as was quite common in that day and age, it sadly died in infancy, and left the Macbeths reeling, and grieving for their lost child. Like most couples in that day and age they want to bring a child/heir into the world and they succeeded in doing so.
Long story short, they’re all around legends, and everybody likes them! They’re good people, who are good at what they do. Macbeth is an incredible warrior who is celebrated for his achievements, and Lady Macbeth is a strong, smart and efficient stateswoman, who is incredibly well liked in their community and circles. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are an upstanding, courteous and dutiful military power couple of sorts. Before we meet the weird sisters, King Duncan, or Birnam Wood, let’s briefly chat about who these people are. Now it’s not often that I find myself giving context for Shakespeare in regards to what’s happened before the play even starts, but this is quite an important thing to know when it comes to this monologue.
To better understand it, let’s take a closer look. But what’s so special about this Lady Macbeth monologue? Well this is largely considered to be the turning point in the Macbeth’s bloody rampage for power, and the pin drop moment when they decide to go ahead with their plan, and this particular Lady Macbeth monologue is a large driving force in making that happen. There is truly a never ending rabbit hole of debate you can dive into surrounding this character, and a number of different theories surrounding her motives. When it comes to the kind of moral ambiguity that Shakespeare was so well known for, you really can’t go past Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest antiheroes, from one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, and for good reason.
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