MACBETH
If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH
We fail? But 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 drenched natures lie as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell?
Lady Macbeth’s manipulation is clear: she convinces an uncertain Macbeth that regicide is the right decision, and outlines her plan to drug the guards outside Duncan’s bedroom so Macbeth can enter undeterred. Despite Macbeth’s apparent certainty a mere 30 lines earlier that his reasons were “strong both against the deed”, his resolve not to act seems to falter. His hesitation appears to be the risk of failure – “If we should fail?” - which she meets by echoing back his words (either implying sarcastically that failure is unlikely or that it is worth the risk). Macbeth’s question seems inadequate as a response: he fails to voice his real concern. The dramatic irony (as we have been privy to his torturous soliloquys) and secrecy begin to create a divide within the couple’s relationship. Lady Macbeth chooses not to consider his reluctance, instead pushing him to action. Her instruction to her husband to “screw your courage to the sticking-place” can be interpreted in many different ways, perhaps highlighting the depth and layers to her deception. Some say that “sticking-place” refers to the tightening of a crossbow, pulling the string taut so as to fire it with the most power possible. His wife, implying that he should call upon his brutality displayed in battle to help him gain power, foists this violent imagery on Macbeth. Another interpretation of this phrase is to compare it to the tightening of a string on an instrument. This imagery is much more calm and tranquil, and seems to fit better with Lady Macbeth’s constant emasculation of Macbeth than her sudden reference to his masculine fierceness. It could even suggest that Lady Macbeth is “playing” her husband, and he is deceived by her equivocation. This would align her with the metaphysical world once more (perhaps satisfying James I’s hatred of the supernatural by the suggestion that a noble hero only committed regicide because he was tempted by a wife who transgressed gender roles and aligned herself with the supernatural). The connection to the supernatural is perhaps strengthened by the extended metaphor of alchemy Lady Macbeth turns to when describing her plans for drugging the guards. She says that their memories, which are like guards for their brains, will become “a fume”, and their powers of reasoning a “limbeck” - an instrument used for distillation or alchemy. The irony here is that, although Lady Macbeth says that memories define your whole state of being, her memories become her downfall. Indeed, the imagery here foreshadows her sleepwalking revelations of guilt in 5.1, where her cries of “out damned spot!” are punctuated with interjections of memories of the crimes she has orchestrated and she is overcome with the gravity of what she is remembering. Though she may wish the guards to “bear the guilt”, it will imminently trigger her psychological breakdown.
- Emily
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