In anticipation of his arrival, The audience hears the thoughts of Lady Macbeth in another soliloquy, this one is not about the weaknesses of her husband but of the setbacks of being a woman. This speech shows her willingness to do what is necessary for her husband to become king. “… unsex me here; and fill me, from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty!” Lady Macbeth wants the spirits to come and change her from being a woman so that she can be more masculine and more merciless, so that she would be more able to kill Duncan. This shows the strength of how much she wants to become Queen, it expresses her desire and the lengths she’ll go to in order to obtain the throne for Macbeth.
She continues on, asking the spirits to take away the natural emotions a woman has, to fill her with evil “… make thick my blood/ stop up the access and passage to remorse,” this quote is acting the spirits to make her blood thick so that she doesn’t feel any regret for her actions. This shows that Lady Macbeth is aware that if she did kill the King she would feel guilt and shame no matter how much she wants to be Queen and she wants all the human and feminine emotions to be taken away.
Lady Macbeth’s language implies that her breasts and milk, features of being a woman stop her from carrying out acts of violence which are associated with masculinity “ Come to my woman’s beasts, and take my milk for gall,” Lady Macbeth is preparing to commit murder. Lady Macbeth wants to take away the things that make her a woman, she wants her breast milk to be changed to poison, breast milk is seen as a part of nurturing a child, this shows that she despises the power of nurturing and would rather have a masculine role.
At the end of the speech Lady Macbeth says “ Come, thick night/ and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,/…/ nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark” It’s a very negative ending, talking about dark and morbid things. These show the full extent of Lady Macbeth’s evilness and her desires for power, with this ending the readers deduce the power of Lady Macbeth.
The audience can see Lady Macbeth is sure of Macbeth becoming King because in the letter Macbeth tells her that the witches predicted it, she believes him as they also predicted him becoming Thane of Cawdor which he did become. When Macbeth arrives, she expresses her enthusiasm for the news Macbeth brought and how excited she is by what the witches predicted for him “This ignorant present, and I feel now/ the future in the instant.” Amplifies how she craves for the future that the witches foretold.
She then goes on to subtly tell her husband her plans for when Duncan arrives. She does this by asking how long Duncan will be staying with them, Macbeth says he will be leaving the next day. Lady Macbeth assertively replies “O, never/ shall sun that morrow see!” this implies that Duncan shan’t b waking up in and seeing tomorrow, revealing to Macbeth that she wants Duncan to die. This makes Lady Macbeth seem more devious.
Lady Macbeth is confident about her plan as the witches have seen Macbeth as the King. It seems from the moment that Macbeth entered she has already taken leading position and controlled the situation, taking on the more masculine characteristics of the relationship, this shows when she says to Macbeth “…is as a book where men/ may read strange matters…/ bear welcome in your eye”. This shows that Macbeth is already taken aback by Lady Macbeth’s plans and it shows that Lady Macbeth has proved that she is in control of the situation by telling him not to act like something is wrong. Lady Macbeth’s handling of the situation is again portrayed when she says “Only look up clear;/ To alter favour is to fear:/ Leave all the rest to me.” Here she is telling Macbeth that she will take care of everything again this suggests that she is in control and that Macbeth has no choice but to do what she asks, this also assures him that if she takes control of the situation everything will work out fine.
Before this Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that she will take charge of what must be done “… you shall put/ this night’s great business into my dispatch;” She does this so that Macbeth feels that things will be looked after and that the plans will be successful, Lady Macbeth must manipulate Macbeth so that he feels comfortable with the plans.
From Lady Macbeth’s conversation with Macbeth The audience learns that she is the dominating power in the relationship and she overrules her husbands natural instincts by manipulation. The conversation shows how she guides her husband so that she can have her way and become queen. The last three lines of the scene show how cautious she is and how she wants to do everything so that nothing goes wrong and her chances of becoming queen aren’t ruined. She manipulates Macbeth to gain control and her soliloquy’s prove that Lady Macbeth wants to be in charge of the plans and that behind what is normally portrayed is an evil woman.
