It is clear that this important scene, incidentally the
first where we meet Lady Macbeth, reveals a lot about her and her motivation for her
actions in the play. The part you refer to comes just after she has received Macbeth's
letter telling her about the witches' prophecy and where she gives a soliloquy revealing
her fear that Macbeth will not be resolute enough to seize the opportunity to make these
prophecies realities. When the messenger comes, informing her that King Duncan will stay
at their place that very night, it is clear that she immediately determines to kill him,
invoking the spirits to take away any kindness and make her cruel enough to engage in
the act of regicide:
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 th'access and passage to
remorse;
That no compunctious visitings of
nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace
between
The'effect and
it!
It is clear therefore
that Lady Macbeth decides that King Duncan will not leave her home alive - now she just
has to persuade Macbeth that this is the right thing to do.
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