Act 1 sc 5
Enter Macbeth's Wife, alone:
As the scene opens, Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband. The letter tells
of the witches' prophecy for him, which is treated as a certainty, because "I have
learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge" (1.5.1-
3).
"The perfectest report" means "the most reliable information," so it appears that
Macbeth has been asking people what they know about the reliability of witches. If
that's the case, he has ignored the advice of Banquo, who is quite sure that witches can't
be trusted. But Macbeth seems to trust the witches absolutely, because he is writing to
his wife, his "dearest partner of greatness," so that she "mightst not lose the dues of
rejoicing" (1.5.11-12). That is, he believes that she has a right to rejoice because she
will be a queen. However, Lady Macbeth doesn't rejoice.
Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.
English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...
The sleepwalking Lady MacbethShe is determined that he will
be king, but she suspects that he doesn't have the right stuff to do what needs to be
done. Speaking to him as though he were really there, she says: "Yet do I fear thy
nature; / It is too full o' the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way" (1.5.16-
18).
Her reaction to the letter shows that Lady Macbeth is a woman who knows her husband
very well, perhaps because she shares some of his instincts. For both of them, murder is
the "nearest way." In an earlier scene, Macbeth had commented that "If chance will
have me king, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir" (1.3.143-144), but later
he assumes that he must be an assassin in order to be king. And this is always his wife's
assumption.
In addition, Lady Macbeth seems to...