plate killing King Duncan, but the notion immediately enters his desirous wife’s mind as well. Macbeth is the medium through which the train of evil extends to his calculating companion. Once this evil is exposed, Lady Macbeth’s strong and dominating ambition to become queen is born (Jameson 192). There are two reasons why Lady Macbeth is ambitious. Her first motive, ardent affection for her husband, reveals a touch of womanhood. Because she loves Macbeth, she has an earnest desire to help him attain the throne. Upon reading his letter, the devoted Lady Macbeth does not once refer to herself; she thinks only of Macbeth (Jameson 191-2). On a deeper level, Lady Macbeth’s ambition also stems from a sublimation of a repressed desire for children. This sublimation is based upon the memory of her long since dead child. The unconscious battle that this memory produces plagues Lady Macbeth’s mind and will be responsible for all of her further actions in the play (Coriat 219).As Lady Macbeth ponders and schemes the “taking off” of the king, she convinces herself that she is brave (Freud 223). She callously asks for her womanliness to be sacrificed so that she will be able to carry out her murderous intentions:Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,...................................................................Come to my woman’s breasts,And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers. (I. v. 39-40, 46-7)In the harsh words of Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy, she substitutes ambition for her repressed sexual complex. Her strong-willed speech makes her appear to be very courageous when, in actuality, she is suppressing her genuine underlying cowardice (Coriat 219). Consciously, she believes in her volition; however, her unconscious complexes are the factors that determine her behavior (Coriat 222).As the time of the murder approaches, Macbeth begins to waver ...
