Mr.

Sautin Literature and Composition

Zara Hoffman March 2, 2012

MACBETH
Unsex me here (I, v, 48) In a society in which femininity is divorced from strength and womanliness is equated with weakness, where the humane virtues are associated with womanliness, the strong woman finds herself hemmed in psychologically, forced to reject her own womanliness, to some extent, if she is to be true to her strength. Lady Macbeth is such a woman, worthy of the equality her husband bestows upon her early in their relationship when he calls her "my dearest partner in greatness." Carolyn Asp Shakespeare's Macbeth is set in a world where masculine qualities, such as strength and bravery, are prized above all. In their ambition to become more powerful, both Macbeths are compelled to deny their femininity in order to achieve this goal. In the process, they distort their gender identities, abandon their humanity, and slowly drift apart from each other. The deterioration of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's once stable marriage mirrors their individual descents into insanity and amorality. Lady Macbeth's first scene onstage shows her reading a letter from her husband, relating the Weird Sisters' prophesy: "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter."(I.iii.53) She immediately decrees "[Thou] shalt be what thou art promised,"(I.v.15-16) and jumps to the same conclusion as Macbeth: Duncan must die. However, instead of hesitating like Macbeth, she immediately begins plotting the murder. She fears that Macbeth's compassion might prove to be an obstacle and brands compassion, a feminine quality, as a threat to their ultimate objective of obtaining the crown "Yet I fear thy nature is too full o' th' milk of the human kindness."(I.v. 16-17) Lady Macbeth also rejects her own femininity when she appeals to demons to make her callous and harsh:

Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up th' access and passage to remorse, That no compunctions visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th' effect and it. Come to my woman's breasts And take my milk for gall. (I.v.47-55) Lady Macbeth not only requests the demons to strip away her gender, but also asks to be given evil assets in return, to aid her in executing Duncan's murder. Her request that her milk, a feminine and nurturing substance, be traded for gall (the humor associated with hatred1) creates a perverted image of motherhood. The Shakespearean language can also be interpreted as her describing menopause, another biologically feminine characteristic which excludes fertility and the ability to bear children. She fears that her femininity, her morals and conscience, might hinder her in her effort and wishes to feel no guilt or remorse for her future actions. In contrast to Lady Macbeth's portrait of her husband being "too full o' th' milk of human kindness,"(I.v.17) on the battlefield, Macbeth is considered the epitome of masculinity and a great war hero. However, Lady Macbeth's suspicion of Macbeth's morality being an obstacle is confirmed when her murderous suggestion perturbs him. She berates him and questions his manliness, which he refutes, defending himself as the most manly person in Scotland. She relentlessly continues to chide him, finally depicting a horrific example of anti-motherhood as a way to humiliate him into taking action: I have given suck and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me.
1

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth: FOLGER Shakespeare Library. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992: 32.

I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. (I.vii.64-69) Lady Macbeth illustrates another warped portrait of motherhood, as she did earlier, in her "take my milk for gall"(I.v.55) speech. This ghastly vision both jars and shames Macbeth to the point where he cracks under the pressure. He consents to murdering Duncan, to prove that if a mother can kill her own child, he can commit murder. He finally denies his moral conscience. Although the audience is given few details about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's marriage prior to the play, the spectators can still understand that they are very close as a couple and are brought even closer together as they plot Duncan's murder. Macbeth's address of Lady Macbeth as, "my greatest partner in greatness,"(I.v.11) illustrates their close relationship; the fact that Macbeth even includes her in his affairs speaks volumes about their intimacy. However, after Duncan's murder, Macbeth becomes obsessed with the second half of the witches' prophesy: Banquo will be father to a line of kings, meaning Macbeth will have no heir. This fixation begins to separate Macbeth and his wife. The fear of being overthrown by his own second in command haunts him and he no longer sleeps, fulfilling the curse he "heard" after he killed Duncan: Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more. (II.ii.55-57) Lady Macbeth does not believe him, though, and writes it off as just another hallucination as was the floating dagger that "lead" him to murder Duncan, only adding to the distance between her and Macbeth. When Macbeth finally decides to have Banquo murdered, he keeps the plot secret from his wife. Lady Macbeth has suspicion that Macbeth is planning something and confronts him, but he only tells her "to be innocent of the knowledge," rather than including her like he did

previously, illustrating the chasm that is widening between them. Macbeth's relief after murdering Banquo is short lived when he "sees" Banquo's ghost sitting in his seat, and begins to scream for it to quit his sight: Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble. Or be alive again And dare me to the desert with thy sword. If trembling I inhabit then, protest me The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mock'ry, hence! Ghost exits Why so, being gone, I am a man again. (III.iv.124-131) Macbeth's guilt, which originally manifested as a fear of acknowledging his part in Duncan's murder, has now started presenting itself in hallucinations and paranoia. As his sleepless nights continue, Macbeth is plagued by fears of Macduff overthrowing him and seeks the Weird Sisters' prophetic visions. At first they tell him to "Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife!"(IV.i. 81-82) but then say "None of women born shall harm Macbeth."(IV.i.91-92) While the latter proclamation assuages Macbeth's fear, he is so removed from his humanity that he still decides to have Macduff's family slaughtered. He then goes off to battle himself against Macduff, leaving Lady Macbeth at home. Home alone, Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk, confessing to Duncan's murder: "Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"(V.i.41-42). It has apparently become a ritual for Lady Macbeth to wake, write something on parchment, seal it in an envelope, put it away, and "wash" her hands: "Out, damned spot, out, I say!". This is ironic since Lady Macbeth told her husband to simply wash off the blood after he expressed guilt for

Duncan's murder. Now it is her turn to feel remorse and for her guilt to manifest itself as she hallucinates that she is talking to Macbeth: The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that. You mar all with this starting. (V.i.45-47) It's almost as if she is reenacting the night of Duncan's murder, when Macbeth refused to frame the guards, and she scolded Macbeth saying "Infirm of purpose!" and "The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil."(II.ii.69-71) Now, it is Lady Macbeth who is afraid of the dark, needing to always have a light beside her. She sounds childish as she pleads with Macbeth: Come, come, come, come. Give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone. (V.i.65-67, 70-71) Neither she nor Macbeth have come out of the ordeal unscathed. Lady Macbeth has become a fearful child, precisely what she had accused Macbeth of being. Her overwhelming guilt eventually drives her to commit suicide. When Macbeth learns of this, his first comment is: "She should have died hereafter,"(V.v.20) illustrating just how broken their marriage had become. In the process of attempting to rid themselves of weakness and femininity, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth distort their gender identities, making them devoid of morals. This amorality lead to their ultimate demise as individuals and as a couple.