Monologue

Lady Macbeth Monologue

From Macbeth by William Shakespeare

female · defiant · 1:47 min

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What beast was’t, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. (MACBETH: If we should fail?) 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 Th’ unguarded Duncan? what not put upon His spongy officers; who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell?

About this piece

Lady Macbeth confronts her husband about his hesitation to pursue their murderous ambitions, expressing her fierce commitment to their plan and her willingness to sacrifice anything, even her maternal instincts.

30s · anger · ambition · power · betrayal · motherhood

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