The Virgoness of Shakespeares' Lady MacBeth

After her husband told her in a letter about his opportunity to become king, Lady MacBeth tells herself that his temperament is "too full o' the milk of human kindness" for the necessary evil to kill the existing king and make this possible. In her eagerness, she calls for dark forces to "unsex" her and fill her with "direst cruelty". Her husband defers deciding on the matter, but when the king arrives, she ends his moral dilemma by manipulating him with clever arguments into committing the assassination. While he initially balks at the bloody tasks she insists that they are necessary to seize the throne; she wants him to leave everything to her and pull himself together, shocks him and questions his masculinity. Shortly after she makes her husband "do the deed", she admits, in an aside, that she could not have done it herself because the king has resembled her own father as he slept, implying that she too has at least some "milk of human kindness".

By the time she is seen again, Lady Macbeth's long-suppressed conscience has begun to plague her; she sleepwalks, haunted by visions of spots on her hands which she cannot wash off in the famous "Out damn'd spot" speech", the blood her husband has spilled largely at her instigation ? tormented into madness by the guilt.

She also seems to blame herself for the acts her husband commits alone ? such as having Macduff's wife and son killed along with anyone else who bore the name Macduff ? for her indirect responsibility, having pushed her husband to his state of tyranny. Just before the climactic battle between Husband Macbeth and Macduff, she apparently commits suicide, though the play does not explicitly reveal the cause of her death.

In the years since the play was written, she has become an archetypal character: she is the standard template for a wife goading her husband into bettering his position in life, if not her own. When speaking with Macbeth- especially when he is having doubts about whether or not he should do, or should have done, something- the scenes work as a neat contrast in their portrayal of her husband's fanciful images of ghosts and terrors and her prolific attitude to life, as well as her down-to-earth stance on everyday events and expressions ("the poor cat in the adage" she speaks of is a reference to an old fable about a cat that wanted fish but dared not wet her paws to get it, which compares- so she argues- to Macbeth's envy for the crown, but initial fear of killing the king in order to get it) as well as her questioning of his manliness. By the time Husband Macbeth has suppressed his own conscience and commits murders of his own initiative, her role as his "tempter" is lost and that is when Shakespeare kills her off in the play- though not before she starts envisioning the blood on her hands as her husband had done before her.

I was cooking mac-n-cheese tonight and saw a spot on top of the stove. Cleaning it proved difficult and I recalled the quote "Out damned spot". Then I hit Wiki and read about her. It just struck me as odd how much female Virgo traits she posses.

Note that I have never actually read the entire Macbeth play.

*posseses

"Note that I have never actually read the entire Macbeth play."

Then you're missing out. It's considered a masterpiece for a reason. 😉

Tell me you didn't pull an original Qbone move by copying & pasting that entire excerpt from Wiki-actual-pedia! Say it ain't so!

This all came from you not being able to clean a spot off the stove?

Gawd, you're such a fucking Virgo 🙂

You're cleaning the goddam stove?

:: throws hands up and curses fucking Virgos for being so anal ::

Ummmm, P. You're supposed to clean your stove, hun. Regularly...

Its one of those flat-top electric types, and I ran out of the special cleaning compound so it doesnt scratch. The secret is in re-hydrating the little bastards so they become mushy, which requires waiting, which bothers me, which makes my mind wander, which allows me to post ridiculous threads like this.

Funnily enough, I've never met a particularly neat or squeaky-clean Virgo. I've always had to (majorly) clean up after the ones I've lived with...

"I ran out of the special cleaning compound so it doesnt scratch. The secret is in re-hydrating the little bastards so they become mushy"

omg .. you'd go crazy in my house .. utterly mad !!!!

You think thats bad? You should see me when I ride a motorcycle. When I get a few bugs on the face shield, I work up a mouthfull of spit and honk it on, swish it around with my glove, and wipe it off on my pants. Cant stand any of those little splatmarks obscuring my vision....

""I work up a mouthfull of spit and honk it on, swish it around with my glove, and wipe it off on my pants. ""

Ew. That's disgusting.

As a parent, I have come to realise that saliva is entirely appropriate to use when wipees or other water sources are not handy! Chocolate smudges on my kids face for example.

"it around with my glove, and wipe it off on my pants"

omg .. what about the filth now on your glove and pants?

tsk, tsk, tsk .... what kind of a Virgo isn't prepared for such calamities with windex and paper towels tucked into his side-bag?

I ride crotch rockets, no side bags. Hell, my leathers dont even have pockets on them.

crotch rocket?

Hey do you go down to bike week?

How old are you, toll? You don't look THAT old.

I went a couple years ago with a friend of mine, he rides a hog.

Tits everywhere 😉

Im not into the chrome cruiser scene. And usually the 'tits' that are attached to those kind of bikes arent cleaned on a regular basis, if you get my drift....

Oh yeah, I know .. community properties .. free shots, though.

lol @ community property

Yeah, out of the way SS! I'm trying to hook him up with Roxi...

""Yeah, out of the way SS! I'm trying to hook him up with Roxi...""

Who? Who are you trying to hook up with Roxi?

So you're a thesbian, eh Roxi?

So, just tell me, are you above 40? You look handsome in your avatar. Like an older guy who looks good for his age.

Who the flock you callin' older guy, scorpSup 😉

Im actually a 17yo azn kid with a penchant for online wargaming and bad acne, answers to the name of KimLee. Interested?

It was a compliment.

OIC....if the 😉 didnt tip you off that I knew that fact, nothing will!!!

TYVMBTW, yup, Im a sliver over fohtie

oh...well, i don't pay attention....sometimes...