about implementing the plan. The domineering Lady Macbeth goads him on to his damnation as she calls him a coward and shows that she is fearless (Jameson 191). Her horrific words convince Macbeth that he must be a man and keep his word:I have given suck, and knowHow tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me:I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as youHave done to this. (I. vii. 54-59)Here Lady Macbeth’s repressed sexual complex for a child is sublimated into ambition and strength. On the surface, she steels herself against emotional harm, but subconsciously, this abhorrent woman is deeply sorrowful about her childlessness (Coriat 220).As Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to return from the cataclysmic deed, she divulges that she is not as daring as she appears by saying: “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; / What hath quenched them hath given me fire” (II. ii. 1-2). Her cowardice is illustrated by her need for alcohol to enable her to act out her wishes. That pusillanimity resurfaces when Lady Macbeth tells her husband: “Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done ’t” (II. ii. 12-13). She uses her father as an excuse for her inaction (Coriat 221).The entire murderous experience fills Lady Macbeth with intense fear and horror. The silence, whispering, and dangerous situation that is broken by the knocking at the gate transforms Lady Macbeth’s delusive bravery into consummate terror. She also realizes that the murder of Duncan is rendered even more evil because it violates claims of kindred and hospitality (Jameson 191). She chooses to repress the secret of the murder and the horror generated by the experience (Coriat 220). She tells her husband: “These deeds must not be thought / After these ways; so, it will make us mad” (II. ii. 33-34). This r...
