At the end of the play “Macbeth”, Malcolm refers to Lady Macbeth as a “fiend-like queen”. Do you agree with this description or do you retain some degree of sympathy for her?
... Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood”. Lady Macbeth does not want to feel pity or guilt for Duncan’s murder. She wants to ensure that she can feel no compassion so that no feelings of humanity upset her ruthless intention or prevent her from carrying it out. “That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose…take my milk For gall, you murd’ring ministers.” Lady Macbeth tells the evil sprits to replace her femininity with acrimony. No niceties of conscience or loyalty seem to assail her, and it is noticeable how she overwhelms her husband when he appears. She exerts a lot of power over Macbeth in this part of the play and even calls him a “coward”, showing just how determined she is and how much ambition she has for her husband. “ Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire?” She says: “ 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 plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this”. Lady Macbeth is playing her womanliness against her husband’s manliness. She says that rather than break a promise she would kill her own child. She is deeply evil and has no redeeming qualities at this point. It is this confidence in herself plus the persuasiveness on her words that makes Macbeth act on her words without hesitating. Macbeth is not persuaded so much by her reasoning as her intimidating character. The imagery of blood runs through the play. We have seen the bloody nature of battle in Scene 2 and Lady Macbeth requests “Make thick my blood.” Here blood is seen as a natural function of the human body. One that naturally feeds man’s capacity for compassion and repentance- things she wishes stopped. After performing the necessary acts in preparation for the murder of Duncan she thinks of perf...