murder. The doctor and gentlewoman watch as the penitent Lady Macbeth rubs her hands saying:Out, damned spot!Out, I say! One: two: why, then ‘tis time to do ‘t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? Whatneed we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow’r to accompt? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (V. i. 33-38)This shows that the murder of Duncan tortures Lady Macbeth’s conscience. The second exposed complex pertains to Banquo’s murder in which Lady Macbeth discloses her knowledge of that crime. The third complex refers to the senseless murder of Lady Macduff and Macduff’s children (221). In her sleep, Lady Macbeth asks: “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?” (V. i. 40-41). In the somnambulistic state, a horrid panorama of her crimes passes before her. This finally drives her to insanity (Coriat 221-222).The sleep-walking scene gives a glimpse into Lady Macbeth’s inward hell in a way that her waking state never could (Jameson 193). This climax of her journey leaves her in a state of complete deterioration. The final step of mental destruction takes Lady Macbeth to her death (Coriat 222). Lady Macbeth’s death is reported to Macbeth by Seyton. Macbeth, consumed with thoughts of his impending battle, has few words for her: “She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word” (V. v. 17-18). Macbeth’s brief epitaph indicates how worthless Lady Macbeth’s existence has become. Malcolm’s speech at the end of the play discloses that the “fiendlike queen” took her own life. The method of her suicide is left a mystery. This simple ending to a tormenting downfall reiterates what is left of Lady Macbeth’s corrupt life (Coriat 222).Repressed emotional complexes bring about Lady Macbeth’s downfall. The...
