Macbeth- The Evil Of Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth & Her Evilness

"Bring Forth men-children only! For thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males."(I, vii, 73-75) Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most frightening and strong female characters. She is ambitious, lusts for power and will stop at nothing for it; she is truly evil. This is evident when she asks evil spirits to come unsex her, when she tries to manipulate Macbeth into committing a most sinful crime, and that she is actively part of the crime also.

"Come you spirits that tend on mortal

Thoughts, unsex me here and fill me

From the crown to the toe/ make thick

My blood/ come to my woman's breasts,

And take my milk for gall/ come, thick night

And pall thee in dunnest smoke of hell/ see

Not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through

The blanket of the dark" (I, v, 40-53)

This soliloquy by Lady Macbeth is one of the most ruthless, cunning, and deep that she makes throughout the play. It shows how evil she wants to become and how much she is willing to do for it. She calls on spirits to unsex her and remove all her womanly feelings so she can be courageous and more masculine. This makes us believe she wants to be ambitious and violent, so that the killing of Duncan will be done effectively, and Macbeth will reign.

Lady Macbeth's evil is seen further when she replies to Macbeth,

"I have given suck, and know how tender

'tis/ while it was smiling in my face, have

Pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums

And dash'd the brains out, had I sworn

As you have done to this." (I, vii, 54-59)

Lady Macbeth attacks Macbeth with this statement saying that she would rather take an innocent baby feeding from her, and smash its head in, then break a promise she made to Macbeth. This shows how passionate and ruthless she can be, and shows that any motherly or female qualities have left her.

Further she attacks Macbeth's manhood, and try's to manipulate him into killing Duncan with the statement,

"What beast was't then that made you break

This enterprise to me? When you durst do it,

Then you were a man;/ you would be so much

More the man. Nor time, nor place, did then adhere/

They have made themselves, and that their fitness