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Lady Macbeth's Soliloquy
Context and Language Videos
Act 1,
Scene 5
Lines 14-39

A discussion of Lady Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5 of myShakespeare's Macbeth. 

myShakespeare | Macbeth 1.5 Language: Lady Macbeth's Soliloquy

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised; yet do I fear thy nature –
It is too full o'th milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'dst have, great Glamis,
That which cries 'Thus thou must do' if thou have it,
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone. 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 round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.
[Enter a Messenger.]
                                                 What is your tidings?

Messenger

The king comes here tonight.

Lady Macbeth

                                                      Thou'rt mad to say it.
Is not thy master with him, who, were't so,
Would have informed for preparation?

Messenger

So please you, it is true — our thane is coming.
One of my fellows had the speed of him,
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his message.

Lady Macbeth

                                                         Give him tending;
He brings great news. 
[Exit Messenger]
                                    The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
Video Transcript: 

RALPH: This passage is one of Shakespeare’s great soliloquies, so it’s well worth going through it closely. Let’s start with the first sentence. "The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements."

DAVINA: In Shakespeare’s day, a raven was considered an omen of death because it feeds on dead animals, and its croaking call sounds like someone dying.

RALPH: So the rasping voice of the out-of-breath messenger resembles a croaking raven.

DAVINA: And like the raven, the messenger is foretelling a deadly event: Duncan's visit to the Macbeth castle.

RALPH: When Lady Macbeth says that Duncan will come "under her battlements”, there’s some irony in that line. Weapons fired from the top of a castle’s walls, or its battlements, have a longer range than those fired from the ground. So, to be “under a castle's battlements” means to be protected by its defenses.

DAVINA: Right, but coming to Macbeth’s castle has put Duncan’s life at risk rather than protecting it.  

RALPH:  And that’s what we mean when we say the line is ‘ironic’: the words suggest one thing -- ‘this is a safe zone’ --, but the ultimate meaning is quite different -- ‘this is the most dangerous place he could be’.