Shakespeare's Monologues
Shakespeare's Monologues
Lady Macbeth is ambitious and cunning. When she hears of the witches prophecy she will do everything in her power in order to ensure Macbeth will be King, even manipulating him. Her ambition drives her throughout the show, eventually leading her to despair and insanity, believing she is unable to wash the blood from her hands which leads to her suicide.
Lady Macbeth has just received the news of Macbeth's prophecy from the witches. She has also just learned that Duncan (the current King) will be at their home tonight. She calls upon the spirits to come and harden her so that she will feel no remorse and be able to murder Duncan in order for Macbeth to be King.
Character description, monologue synopsis, and monologue scoring provided by Michaela Buckley as a part of the Spring 2019 THT 352 class.
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'
| Number of Syllables | Scored Text | Meaning of Beat |
| 7 | The raven himself is horse | Beginning of beat one: To prepare |
| 10 | That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan | |
| 10 | Under my battlements. Come, you spirts | Beginning of beat two: To invite |
| 10 | That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here | |
| 11 | And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full | |
| 10 | Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood | Beginning of beat three: To demand |
| 11 | Stop up the access and passage to remorse | |
| 12 | That no compunctious visitings of nature | |
| 10 | Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between | |
| 11 | The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts | Beginning of beat three: To hearten |
| 12 | And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers | |
| 9 | Wherever in your slightless substance | |
| 10 | You wait on nature's mischeif! Come, thick night, | Beginning of beat four: To entreat |
| 10 | And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell | |
| 10 | That my keen knife see not the wound it makes | Beginning of beat five: To consummate |
| 11 | Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark | |
| 4 | To cry, "hold! hold!" |
Definitions from David & Ben Crystal / Shakespeare's Words are under copyright, and may not be used without their express permission. All other definitions are from sources in the public domain.
Unless otherwise indicated, all other content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA) license.