Lady Macbeth's Cruelty

Much like her remark of fatality her speech holds other moments of foreshadowing and hints at her true wants. “…fill me from the crown to the toe…” (1.5.48) not only represents her wish to hold the cruelty needed but also references the very crown that they are trying to steal from Duncan. Her language turns to defining the type of person, or man in this case, she wishes to be in order to take what she requires. A lack of remorse, to make thick her blood or otherwise harden her very heart. She asks for her very own nature to be changed, humans own turn to guilt must not happen to her. Whatever it is that must be done can not be regretted or second thought. Her own mind must not stand in her way, by adjusting herself, by summoning the very

spirits that are around her and within her: she transforms. As a character Lady Macbeth takes on the form of a bloodthirsty and ruthless being who will stop at nothing. This character remains in place for only part of the play, as after awhile her powers are lost and the guilt and regret she wished away returns.
Her unsexing also advances to a physical point, her own “woman’s breasts” (1.5.54) must be changed, the milk of a mother is changed for “gal” (1.5.55).

Gal which is bile is also the liquid of the liver and represents anger. (Macbeth 32) The same milk is brought up again when she questions her husbands abilities; it is the “milk of human kindness” (1.5.17) Referencing it again Lady Macbeth is comparing herself with her husband and points to his own weakness as a man. Her idea of a man has no room for kindness, which points to her experience as a woman. The use of the word also brings up her character’s role as a mother, her own milk and or breasts that would otherwise sustain life and define her femininity must be changed to anger and evil. It also stands in as a sort of sacrifice within her spell, she gives up something of her own identity to accept her power. Being a mother and having lost a child has changed Lady Macbeth. Her own turn to witchcraft or the physical attainment of the crown seems to stand as a replacement for her lost child. The only other time milk is mentioned within the play is when she speaks of her willpower. She would pull her own child from her breast and smash its brains out if she held sworn to do so. Her example of strict honor or passion is used to push Macbeth into what he had already sworn to complete: to kill Duncan. Even as a mother Lady Macbeth would embody the masculine violence to finish, what has been started. Going towards her

role as the most forceful and persuasive character within the play.