Essay, Research Paper: Lady Macbeth- Not As Evil As She Appears

Benjamin W. Cheng
Princeton University '00

LADY MACBETH: NOT AS EVIL AS SHE APPEARS TO BE

In many of his plays, William Shakespeare portrays women as more virtuous than
men. For example, in Othello, we see the stark contrast between Desdemona's tender love
and her husband's jealous vengeance. Similarly, in The Winter's Tale, we witness
Hermione patiently enduring her miserable plight at the hands of the raging Leontes.
Furthermore, we notice that very few of Shakespeare's villains are female. Indeed, in
several of his works, Shakespeare seems to support the view that women are by nature
tender, loving, and incapable of the evils which men often commit. Upon a first reading,
Macbeth appears to run counter to this common image of women, for in this tragedy, we
see a cunning Lady Macbeth plotting to kill the King of Scotland. Her ruthlessness in
pressuring Macbeth to carry out the murder leads us to believe that Lady Macbeth directly
contradicts the above stereotype. However, a closer reading of Macbeth reveals that the
play actually upholds this view of women as naturally loving and good, for although Lady
Macbeth appears capable of boundless evil, she in fact is not.
Throughout the play, Shakespeare employs various gender-related metaphors to
portray women as kind and loving by nature. One of the symbols he uses is milk, a
substance we normally associate with femininity. As we read Macbeth, we notice that
every time the word "milk" appears, Shakespeare equates it with virtuous qualities such
as tenderness and concord. We first encounter this symbol in a speech by Lady Macbeth
in Act I Scene v, immediately after she reads Macbeth's letter describing the witches'
prophecy that he will become king. As she plots the assassination of King Duncan, Lady
Macbeth expresses concern that her husband's nature is "too full o' th' milk of human
kindness" to "catch the nearest way" (Macbeth, ed. Sylvan Barnet [New York: Signet
Classic, 1963], 1.5.18-19). She further laments that although Macbeth harbors the
ambition to become king, he is without the "illness" necessary to carry out Duncan's
murder (1.5.21). In this context, Shakespeare uses the word "milk" to represent "human
kindness" and a lack of "illness," indirectly suggesting that women are by nature loving
rather than ruthless. We see a similar implication in Act IV Scene iii, in which Malcolm
deceives Macduff about his true nature. According to the young Prince of Cumberland,
because he is guilty of such vices as lust and greed, he would "pour the sweet milk of
concord into hell" (4.3.98). By establishing that his vices are incompatible with the
qualities of "sweet milk," Malcolm in effect depicts milk and vice as antithetical
concepts. Thus, through this metaphor of milk, Shakespeare relates femininity not only
with kindness and love, but also with virtues such as sweetness, concord, and innocence.
Besides portraying women as tender and loving, Shakespeare also suggests that
they are incapable of the evils which men often commit. We see this implication most
clearly in a speech by Lady Macbeth in Act I Scene v, in which she invokes supernatural
aid in her resolution to seize the Scottish crown. In this passage, Lady Macbeth attempts
to transcend her femininity by calling on spirits to "unsex" her (1.5.42). To her, being
"unsexed" means "[stopping] up th' access and passage to remorse" so that "compunctious
visitings of nature" cannot interfere with her plan (1.5.45-46). By referring to her pangs of
conscience as "compunctious visitings of nature" (italics mine) which can be repressed
only through the loss of her femininity, Lady Macbeth implies that as a woman, she is too
conscientious to be capable of committing such a savage crime. Only by transcending her
womanly nature can Lady Macbeth carry out her murderous plans without interference
from her conscience. We see a similar portrayal of femininity when she calls upon the
"murd'ring ministers" to "come to my woman's breasts" and "take my milk for gall"
(1.5.48-49). Lady Macbeth's need to exchange her milk for gall suggests to us that as a
milk-bearing female, she does not possess the bitter cruelty necessary to assassinate the
king. Indeed, she must first be filled "from the crown to the toe" with "direst cruelty"
before she is able to carry out her plan (1.5.43-44). Thus, through Lady Macbeth's speech,
Shakespeare implies that women are too conscientious and loving by nature to commit
murder. Only by losing her femininity could a woman be capable of such evil deeds.
The ruthlessness and bold resolution Lady Macbeth exhibits appears to challenge
this virtuous portrayal of womanly nature. As we see in Act I Scene vii, she relentlessly
pressures her husband to cooperate in her plan to murder Duncan in his sleep. When
Macbeth expresses his reluctance, she tauntingly questions his manhood, suggesting that
he is even more "womanly" than his wife. Furthermore, to prove her own ruthlessness,
Lady Macbeth declares that she is willing to "[pluck her] nipple from [a baby's] boneless
gums" and "[dash] the [baby's] brains out" (1.7.57-58). Her bold claims seemingly reveal
that Lady Macbeth is completely devoid of the loving and tender qualities we associate
with femininity. At the same time, we also notice that Lady Macbeth never seems to
suffer from the pangs of conscience which constantly afflict her husband. Indeed, her
resolution impresses Macbeth so much that he declares to her: "thy undaunted mettle
should compose nothing but males" (1.7.73-74). Through these words, Macbeth suggests
that his wife's ruthlessness and lack of compunction can only characterize a man, for it is
against a woman's nature to possess such qualities. Thus, Lady Macbeth's behavior
appears to directly contradict Shakespeare's notion of femininity.
Despite her apparent capacity for evil, however, a close examination of Lady
Macbeth's words and actions reveals that she is not as wicked as she seems. At the
beginning of Act II Scene ii, after she has drugged the king's bodyguards, Lady Macbeth
declares that the wine "which hath made [the guards] drunk hath made me bold" (2.2.1).
In this case, however, her definition of "bold" apparently means waiting in the anteroom
while her husband commits the actual murder. As we recall, in order to elicit Macbeth's
consent to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth had mocked his manhood, suggesting that he was
even more "womanly" than she. Yet, when she is in the same room with the sleeping king
while planting the daggers, she herself cannot carry out the deed. Despite her claims of
being ruthless enough to kill her own baby, she is incapable of murdering Duncan
because he "resembled [her] father as he slept" (2.2.12-13). At this point, we begin to
notice an obvious contradiction between the bold assertions she makes in front of her
husband and the words she utters in private. Similarly, throughout the play, Lady
Macbeth pretends not to suffer from the pangs of conscience which afflict her husband.
Indeed, immediately after the king's assassination and during the banquet in Act III Scene
iv, we marvel at the stark contrast between her steely composure and Macbeth's fearful
histrionics. Despite her seeming lack of conscience, however, we learn in Act V Scene i
that Lady Macbeth does in fact endure the "compunctious visitings of nature." As she
sleepwalks, Lady Macbeth wails that "all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this
little hand" (5.1.43-44). Through her lamentation, Lady Macbeth not only reveals that her
"heart is sorely charged," but by using the words "sweeten" and "little," she also exhibits
the very femininity she had appeared to lack (5.1.46). This revelation of Lady Macbeth's
troubled conscience, coupled with her inability to murder Duncan, exposes her self-
proclaimed ruthlessness as a mere facade. Although Lady Macbeth appears to contradict
Shakespeare's portrayal of womanly nature, she in fact does not.
Despite our initial impression that Lady Macbeth is a purely evil character, we
discover that her wickedness is more self-proclaimed than real. By showing us the
conscience and timidity she harbors under her evil facade, Shakespeare emphasizes that
women -- even Lady Macbeth -- are loving and compassionate by nature. Shakespeare's
virtuous portrayal of femininity in Macbeth and other plays may simply reflect a desire to
conform to a widely held view of women during the early seventeenth century.
Furthermore, Lady Macbeth's inability to truly transcend her womanly qualities may
suggest Shakespeare's belief that human nature cannot be suppressed. Regardless of what
his reasons were, however, Shakespeare's portrayal of Lady Macbeth definitely serves as
an example of how even the most ruthless seeming villains may possess natural virtues.