He that's coming
Must be provided for; and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. (I.v, 60-70).
Macbeth shows no ill intent towards his king when he informs his wife that Duncan will be an overnight guest, but Lady Macbeth immediately responds by instructing him to act as a serpent towards the king. She does not appear to have to goad him tremendously, because Macbeth is immediately discussing the idea of assassination. However, when his wife enters, he has made up his mind that they will not kill Duncan. However, Lady Macbeth goads him, implying that if he does not kill Duncan, he does not love her. She asks:
What beast was't then That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place,
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me;
would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this. (I.vii, 48-59).
The imagery she chooses is incredibly vivid, as well as very manipulative. Nowhere has Macbeth promised her that he would kill Duncan; at the very most, he promised her that they would further discuss the matter. Moreover, she acts as if his refusal to kill the king is an act of personal disloyalty and says that she would kill her own innocent child, if she had promised her husband that she would do so. In the fact of that type of declaration of loyalty, Macbeth's refusal to...
While she is sleepwalking, she seems to be washing her hands. While doing so, she says:
Out, damn'd spot! Out, I say! One-
Two- why then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie,
My lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear
Who knows it, when non-can call our pow'r to Accompt? Yet who would have thought ht old man
To have had so much blood in him. (V.i, 34-40).
She is clearly suffering from a guilty conscience about the murder. This only makes sense if she felt responsible for goading her husband into committing the killing.
Although Lady Macbeth is not physically responsible for Duncan's murder, her actions in the play the Tragedy of Macbeth make it clear that she is morally responsible for his murder, and would even be considered a co-conspirator under today's modern criminal law. First, Lady Macbeth discusses her husband's soft nature, and talks about how she is going to harden herself so that she can push him to make a change. Next, Lady Macbeth discusses the idea of an assassination with her husband, goading him with a promise that he never made, to make it appear that he can only prove his loyalty to her by carrying out the murder of the king. Finally, Lady Macbeth's own subconscious behavior demonstrates the extent of her guilt; she tries to wash her hands clean of blood, though she never actually bloodied her hands. These three elements should make it clear that Lady Macbeth was at least as responsible for Duncan's death as her husband, even though she was not physically involved in the murder.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Macbeth." The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G.
Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. 1307-1342.
