LADY MACBETH
He that's coming Must be provided for: and you shall put This night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
MACBETH
We will speak further.
LADY MACBETH
Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear: Leave all the rest to me. Exeunt
Now fully committed to the cold, cut-throat act of regicide, Lady Macbeth’s speech reflects her mentality: like her layers of appearances and morals, her words similarly carry hidden stabs of fatal implication. “He that’s coming / Must be provided for” refers to both celebratory preparations for the king’s arrival, as well as the bloody preparations for his departure. Her repetition and unorthodox ordering of “night”, placing it before “day”, not only alludes to the agreed time of the murder, it also connects night and darkness to deception and solidifies her opposing role to Duncan, who holds the connotations of the sun (“never shall sun that morrow see”). Where Duncan attempts to assure peace surrounding the throne (by selecting Malcolm as the heir in favour of the thanes fighting for monarchy), Lady Macbeth’s rushed actions directly jeopardize his wishes and throw the nation into turmoil. Despite her upstarting intent, her reliance on euphemisms - "this night's great business" - and her refusal to fully name the despicable deed reflects her naivety in the matter. Unlike her husband, whose duty as a soldier is to execute the enemies of the throne, Lady Macbeth is not used to killing, and certainly not used to bearing the crushing weight of a victim’s life. She makes no attempt to take the responsibility of Duncan’s murder to heart, a fault that eventually leads to her downfall. Where Macbeth sees the road of suffering paved out past Duncan’s corpse, Lady Macbeth sees only the ideal destination. Swinging sibilance in her speech - "must", "shall", "night's … business", "days", "solely sovereign sway" - highlights only her desires but tells nothing of the nightmare that precedes her fleeting dreams. In contrast, Macbeth’s weak-willed worries have left him vulnerable. Where the two were equal before, sharing stichomythic lines to display close compassion, Lady Macbeth now holds full control over the debate; long speeches, imperatives and the modal verbs of obligation - "must" and "shall" - prove her hold over her Macbeth. The thane’s brief attempt to regain control is completely shut down by her demonstration of unearthly alignment: three obscure lines of rhyme, punctuated with the terrible trochaic tempo of the witches. Despite never meeting them in person, she too, is influenced by their mystic spirituality and sinister magic, once again throwing into doubt whether Macbeth is ever in control of his own destiny.
- Ken