Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter describing the witches' prophecy and his new title of Thane of Cawdor. She fears his nature is too gentle to seize the crown by murder. A messenger arrives to announce King Duncan's imminent arrival at their castle. Lady Macbeth calls on dark spirits to strip away her feminine compassion and fill her with cruelty, then instructs Macbeth to hide his ambition beneath a welcoming facade while she orchestrates Duncan's murder.
This scene reveals the partnership at the heart of the tragedy. Macbeth's letter shows him already imagining murder—the witches have planted the idea, but he's the one who waters it. Lady Macbeth's response is startling: she doesn't doubt the witches or question the plan; she simply recognizes that her husband lacks the ruthlessness to act alone. Her soliloquy—'unsex me here'—is not mere theatrical flourish. She's identifying exactly what will stop Macbeth: conscience, compassion, the 'milk of human kindness.' By calling on spirits to drain these qualities from her, she positions herself as the play's moral antagonist, at least in this moment. She will be the driver.
What's crucial is Lady Macbeth's assumption of control. She doesn't ask Macbeth; she tells him. 'Leave all the rest to me.' This is the moment the tragedy becomes collaborative, and it's easy to see why audiences have often read her as the stronger partner—at least initially. Yet the scene also plants seeds of her unraveling. The moment she sees Duncan 'resembled / My father as he slept,' she cannot kill him herself. Her strength is performative, borrowed from 'spirits,' and when those spirits fade—as they must—she will be left staring at her hands, unable to wash away what they've done. The same compassion she tried to reject will consume her by Act 5.
Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't.
Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't.
Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5
Lady Macbeth advises her husband on how to hide murder behind a welcoming smile. The line captures the play's obsession with the gap between appearance and reality, between what the face shows and what the heart intends. It is a blueprint for the kind of theatrical performance that Macbeth will attempt and fail at throughout the play.
Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty!
Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty!
Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5
Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter and immediately calls on dark forces to strip her of her feminine nature so she can commit murder. She is the play's strongest character at this moment—more willing, more decisive than Macbeth. By the end, she will sleepwalk scrubbing invisible blood from her hands, having paid the price for that invocation.
Original Shakespeare alongside modern English. Synced read-along narration in the app.
