Lady Macbeth and the twisted maternal instinct - Written by Molly
In Act One, Scene 5, comes a soliloquy* that some interpret as a pleading from Lady Macbeth to be transformed into a man, so that femininity cannot stand in her way of achieving the sacrilegious* crime of killing King Duncan (sacrilegious because of the divine right of kings, which holds that kings are the closest beings on Earth to angels as they are appointed by God). However, this viewpoint does not cover all that Lady Macbeth asks of the "spirits". In fact, the main quote from which this interpretation is derived, "unsex me here", does not suggest an adoption of any male characteristics whatsoever. Lady Macbeth could really be said to view masculinity as weak, her cunning plan to coerce Macbeth into committing regicide* involves mainly the questioning and mocking of his masculinity which presents to the reader that she believes that there is no true strength that comes with being a man, there is only pride and insecurity.
What is truly telling about this scene is her repeated reference to her body and anatomy, more so the transformation and distortion of it into something wicked. She pleads "take my milk for gall", "fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty". This demonstrates a longing for the body to be turned into the perfect environment for a terrible plot to develop; with her milk and without cruelty she is the Jacobean perception of a woman: weak and subservient to men (especially King Duncan), with the role of child bearing. The milk of "human kindness" as said in the same scene earlier concerning Macbeth's temperament that renders him unable to kill the king without Lady Macbeth's manipulation. Lady Macbeth's inability to fulfil the Jacobean role of a woman and bear children perhaps had made her feel like her feminine powers of creation are wasted, but also that she does not belong in the society that she is surrounded by. Is she really evil, or is she just a woman grieving the life she wants to belong in, a victim of the patriarchy which has curated and emphasised the role of the woman. This is her only opportunity to have a child, and so she uses her body to basically become pregnant with the plot to kill the king. She nurtures this 'child' with the food it needs to grow and develop, which in her case is the words she uses to manipulate Macbeth. The feminine maternal instinct, instead of serving a human child, serves the plot of regicide , which explains act one, scene 7 when Lady Macbeth exclaims to Macbeth: "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." This is essentially Lady Macbeth saying that she would kill her own child rather than go back on her word as a tactic for manipulating Macbeth when she feels that he is going back on his (this being his word saying he would commit regicide). Personally, I think this graphic and violent image that Shakespeare creates is a little bit over the line of what an aspiring and grieving mother would say. She has loved a child in the past that has probably died, but now she uses her child's death to further the plot of regicide. This completely shows how her maternal instinct has attached to her new 'baby'. there is almost a detachment from the past self that loved a human child. She no longer experiences any tenderness, nor does her new 'baby' milk her. Her milk is gall and the tenderness is "direst cruelty". it's a horrifyingly distorted pregnancy. It could also be said that her manipulation of Macbeth and need for him to be in on the plot is a reference to the fact that procreation takes two. She needs him to get rid of his "milk o' human kindness", as that is not the ingredient needed for a 'baby' such as this one.
Glossary
* soliloquy - when someone in a play speaks their own thoughts out loud, unheard by any other character.
* sacrilegious - disrespectful to religion, in this case, Christianity (the religion of most Jacobeans)
* Regicide - killing a king.
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