Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Act 2.2 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth claims "That which hath made them drunk...". She did not do the deed herself. How does she make up for this?

In the quote you ask about from Shakespeare's
Macbeth, Lady Macbeth just means that the drink others have been
drinking that made them drunk, made her bold.  She is excited about what is in the
process of happening at the moment--her husband is assassinating King Duncan.  Today we
might say that she is experiencing an adrenaline rush. 


I'm
not sure there's any connection to that quote and her having to make up for not killing
Duncan herself.  In fact, I don't think there's any sense in the play that she has to
make up for it at all.  Her killing Duncan was never the plan.  The plan was for her
husband to kill him.  She was just supposed to drug the grooms, which she does.  In
terms of the plan and the plot, her mentioning that she would have killed Duncan herself
except that he reminded her of her father is almost an afterthought.  It is not central
to the action.  The deed gets done.   


Her not killing
Duncan because, while sleeping, he reminds her of her father is important for other
reasons.  It reveals her sentimental side.  She apparently is not as evil and nasty as
she would like to be.  Her spirits have not unsexed her or turned her into a male
warrior. 


If you must think in terms of Lady Macbeth making
up for not killing Duncan herself, however, you could think of her taking the
bloody daggers back to Duncan's chambers because Macbeth refuses to.   Her husband
stupidly brings the murder weapons with him, and she returns them to the murder scene. 
You could say that makes up for her "mistake" before, if you think
of it as such.  She also gets Macbeth to his chambers, presumably gets him cleaned up,
and completes the cover up.  She stays in control when Macbeth gets out of
control.

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