Macbeth Group

Question:


crossfire182
Student
High School - 9th Grade

What quotes in Macbeth reveal Lady Macbeth's ambition and desire to be queen?

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Posted by crossfire182 on Wednesday December 31, 2008 at 8:06 PM and tagged with characters, lady macbeth, macbeth, quotes, themes.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    Well, the obvious place to look is her first scene. W. H. Auden once said that "first things in Shakespeare are always important", and true to form, the first time Lady Macbeth appears, she reads aloud the letter that her husband has sent her detailing the witches' prophecies. The letter refers to her as Macbeth's "dearest partner of greatness" and Lady Macbeth, reading of the prophecies immediately resolves

    Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
    What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
    It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
    To catch the nearest way. 

    Human kindness is not going to stand in the way of their getting their hands on the crown. At the end of the same scene she makes a strong resolution to win the crown for her husband:

                               Hie thee hither,
    That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
    And chastise with the valor of my tongue
    All that impedes thee from the golden
    Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
    To have thee crown'd withal.

    I wouldn't say that it's as much that she wants to be queen, as much as she wants her husband to be king. But ambitious? Undoubtedly.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth-text/act-i-scene-v
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/act-summary-analysis
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/lady-macbeth-character-anal...

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Thursday January 1, 2009 at 7:12 AM