MACBETH
A monologue from the play by
William Shakespeare
LADY MACBETH: He has almost
supped.
Why have you left the chamber?
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it
slept since?
And wakes it now to look so green
and pale
At what it did so freely? From this
time
Such I account thy love. Art thou
afeard
To be the same in thine own act and
valor
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou
have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of
life,
And live a coward in thine own
esteem,
Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I
would,"
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
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:
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 this. If we should fail?
Screw your courage to the sticking
place
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is
asleep
(Whereto the rather shall his day's
hard journey
Soundly invite him), his two
chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so
convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of
reason
A limbeck only. When in swinish
sleep
Their drenchèd natures lies as in a
death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
Th' unguarded Duncan? what not put
upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear
the guilt
Of our great quell?
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Macbeth - Macbeth is a Scottish general and the thane of Glamis who is led to wicked thoughts
by the prophecies of the three witches, especially after their prophecy that he will be made thane
of Cawdor comes true. Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous
one. He is easily tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne, and once he commits
his first crime and is crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing
ease. Ultimately, Macbeth proves himself better suited to the battlefield than to political intrigue,
because he lacks the skills necessary to rule without being a tyrant. His response to every
problem is violence and murder. Unlike Shakespeare’s great villains, such as Iago in Othello and
Richard III in Richard III, Macbeth is never comfortable in his role as a criminal. He is unable to
bear the psychological consequences of his atrocities.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF MACBETH.
Lady Macbeth -  Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position.
Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her
husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady
Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her
conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. Interestingly, she
and Macbeth are presented as being deeply in love, and many of Lady Macbeth’s speeches imply
that her influence over her husband is primarily sexual. Their joint alienation from the world,
occasioned by their partnership in crime, seems to strengthen the attachment that they feel to
each another.
The Three Witches -  Three “black and midnight hags” who plot mischief against Macbeth
using charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt him to murder Duncan, to order
the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality. The play leaves
the witches’ true identity unclear—aside from the fact that they are servants of Hecate, we know
little about their place in the cosmos. In some ways they resemble the mythological Fates, who
impersonally weave the threads of human destiny. They clearly take a perverse delight in using
their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings.
Banquo - The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches’ prophecy, will
inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not
translate those thoughts into action. In a sense, Banquo’s character stands as a rebuke to
Macbeth, since he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in which ambition need
not lead to betrayal and murder. Appropriately, then, it is Banquo’s ghost—and not Duncan’s—
that haunts Macbeth. In addition to embodying Macbeth’s guilt for killing Banquo, the ghost also
reminds Macbeth that he did not emulate Banquo’s reaction to the witches’ prophecy.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF BANQUO.
King Duncan - The good King of Scotland whom Macbeth, in his ambition for the crown,
murders. Duncan is the model of a virtuous, benevolent, and farsighted ruler. His death
symbolizes the destruction of an order in Scotland that can be restored only when Duncan’s line,
in the person of Malcolm, once more occupies the throne.
Macduff - A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually
becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade’s mission is to place the rightful
king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of
Macduff’s wife and young son.
Read an IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF MACDUFF.
Malcolm - The son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland’s return to order
following Macbeth’s reign of terror. Malcolm becomes a serious challenge to Macbeth with
Macduff’s aid (and the support of England). Prior to this, he appears weak and uncertain of his
own power, as when he and Donalbain flee Scotland after their father’s murder.
Hecate - The goddess of witchcraft, who helps the three witches work their mischief on
Macbeth.
Fleance - Banquo’s son, who survives Macbeth’s attempt to murder him. At the end of the play,
Fleance’s whereabouts are unknown. Presumably, he may come to rule Scotland, fulfilling the
witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s sons will sit on the Scottish throne.
Lennox - A Scottish nobleman.
Ross - A Scottish nobleman.
The Murderers -  A group of ruffians conscripted by Macbeth to murder Banquo, Fleance
(whom they fail to kill), and Macduff’s wife and children.
Porter - The drunken doorman of Macbeth’s castle.
Lady Macduff -  Macduff’s wife. The scene in her castle provides our only glimpse of a
domestic realm other than that of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. She and her home serve as
contrasts to Lady Macbeth and the hellish world of Inverness.
Donalbain -  Duncan’s son and Malcolm’s younger brother.

ANALYSIS
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most infamous female characters. Cunning and ambitious,
Lady Macbeth is a major protagonist in the play, encouraging and helping Macbeth to carry out
his bloody quest to become king. Without Lady Macbeth, her husband might never have
ventured down the murderous path that leads to their ultimate downfall. 
In many respects, Lady Macbeth is more ambitious and power-hungry than her husband, going
so far as to call his manhood into question when he has second thoughts about committing
murder. 
Sexism in 'Macbeth'
Along with being Shakespeare's bloodiest play, "Macbeth" is also the one with the greatest
number of outright evil female characters. Chief among them are the three witches who predict
Macbeth will be king and set the play's action into motion. 
Then, there's Lady Macbeth herself. It was unusual in Shakespeare's day for a female character to
be so boldly ambitious and manipulative as Lady Macbeth. She's unable to take action herself,
perhaps because of the social constraints of the time, and must persuade her husband to go along
with her evil plans.
Masculinity is defined in the play by ambition and power, two qualities that Lady Macbeth
possesses in abundance. By constructing the character in this way, Shakespeare challenges our
preconceived views of masculinity and femininity. But what exactly was Shakespeare
suggesting?
On one hand, it was a radical idea to present a dominant female character. But on the other hand,
Lady Macbeth is presented negatively and ends up killing herself after experiencing what
appears to be a crisis of conscience. 
Lady Macbeth Character Description and Guilt
Lady Macbeth’s sense of remorse soon overwhelms her. She has nightmares and in one famous
scene (Act 5, Scene 1), appears to try to wash from her hands the blood she imagines has been
left behind by the murders.
Doctor:
What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands.
Gentlewoman:
It is an accustom'd action with her, to seem thus
washing her hands. I have known her continue in this a quarter of
an hour.
Lady Macbeth:
Yet here's a spot.
Doctor:
Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes from her, to
satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.
Lady Macbeth:
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 none can call our
pow'r to accompt? — Yet who would have thought the old man to
have had so much blood in him?
By the end of Lady Macbeth's life, guilt has replaced her incredible ambition in equal measure.
We are led to believe that her guilt ultimately leads to her suicide.
Lady Macbeth is, therefore, a victim of her own ambition — and also possibly of her sex. As
a woman in Shakespeare's world, she is not resilient enough to deal with such strong emotions,
whereas Macbeth fights on to the very end despite his misgivings. 
The treacherous Lady Macbeth both defies and defines what it means to be a female villain in a
Shakespeare play.

Macbeth's wife is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. Unlike her husband,
she lacks all humanity, as we see well in her opening scene, where she calls upon the "Spirits
that tend on mortal thoughts" to deprive her of her feminine instinct to care. Her burning
ambition to be queen is the single feature that Shakespeare developed far beyond that of her
counterpart in the historical story he used as his source. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her
husband for his lack of courage, even though we know of his bloody deeds on the battlefield. But
in public, she is able to act as the consummate hostess, enticing her victim, the king, into her
castle. When she faints immediately after the murder of Duncan, the audience is left wondering
whether this, too, is part of her act.
Ultimately, she fails the test of her own hardened ruthlessness. Having upbraided her husband
one last time during the banquet (Act III, Scene 4), the pace of events becomes too much even
for her: She becomes mentally deranged, a mere shadow of her former commanding self,
gibbering in Act V, Scene 1 as she "confesses" her part in the murder. Her death is the event that
causes Macbeth to ruminate for one last time on the nature of time and mortality in the speech
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" (Act V, Scene 5).