After these ways; so it will make us mad"
(Shakespeare 2.2.45-46).
What drives someone to consciously do what they know to be morally wrong in some way? Every year when I return to reading and teaching Shakespeare's Macbeth, I am fascinated once again by the complexities of Lady Macbeth's character. She is late in the play referred to as a "fiend-like queen," traditionally thought of by scholars as an evil force - similar to the witches - who drive Macbeth to his demise (5.8.82). Taking this approach, however, seems a simplistic reading of all the characters involved. Lady Macbeth and her husband are inextricably bound throughout the
play, connected by both visible and invisible ties. They impact one another. At the heart of this connection, circled back to multiple times, is the fact the two are childless. In the Goold Version of Macbeth in the start of Act 3.2, Lady Macbeth opens up a drawer in her vanity. Does anyone remember what she sees there? A single baby's shoe.
One way to move beyond simply reader response when looking at a work of art or literature is by applying a critical lens to your reading. According to Purdue OWL's "Introduction to Literary Theory," critical lenses allow critics to "consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that school of theory." In addition, "different lenses also allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important." One common school of criticism is psychological or psychoanalytic, which requires "that we investigate the psychology of a character or an author to figure out the meaning of a text."
Karin Thomson of the Shakespeare Institute applies this psychoanalytical lens to studying Lady Macbeth suggesting that she is not a criminal and is not even particularly ambitious; instead, she is the victim of a mental break arising from an emotional shock of past experience. Thompson goes on to state definitively that the past experience that causes this disturbance in Lady Macbeth - and perhaps in Macbeth - is the loss of their child. Thomson emphasizes how isolated Lady Macbeth is, unlike other female characters in Shakespeare. She has no confidante, maid, or child; indeed, her life is her husband. As she shares little connection to the state or to society, it is not as difficult for her as it is for Macbeth to break bonds. It is only the bond with Macbeth that matters to her. Thomson asserts that all of Lady Macbeth's energy "is sublimated into ambition and culminates with Duncan's murder and the bloody rebirth of Macbeth as an unnatural son and heir to the throne" (2). Further, as seen in the quote I started this post with, Lady Macbeth "actively avoids thinking about what she has done" (Thomson 2). In light of Thomson's assertions, Lady Macbeth's attempts to repress her femininity make more sense; it is her gender that has failed her in some way. She is not a mother; she has no opportunity for real power as a woman in society. In her grief filled mind, only in masculinizing herself can she attempt to "give birth" to something else. As Thompson suggests, it is no accident that Lady Macbeth begins to unravel more and more as her bond with Macbeth weakens.
Clearly, we all have good and evil in us. I wonder if some are born with more of one than the other, or is it experience - positive or negative - that tips this scale? In my experience, there are many ways we justify bad actions, many ways we often lie to ourselves to get around our morality. As our first glimpse of Lady Macbeth paints her as dark and harsh, it is no surprise many readers and critics judge her as evil. I think there is more to Lady Macbeth than this. By considering her character through a psychoanalytical lens - and perhaps a feminist lens (idea for later post?) - layers of complexity emerge. Peeling away at these can perhaps help us to explore those same layers in
ourselves.
If you are interested in learning more about applying literary theory and critical lenses to Macbeth or other texts, check out this link "The Land of Macbeth: 7 Essays of Classic Macbeth Criticism"
[Image 1 retrieved from and Image 2 retrieved from]
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