Lady Macbeth Monologue

Lady Macbeth Monologue

(Lady Macbeth stands tall and statuesque centre stage with her head held high. She has a haughty look on her face that matches a complexion of ice. She is wearing sumptuous attire, a golden crown glittering on her head and is clutching a flickering candle. Behind her is a darkened backdrop of a stone castle wall. On the stone wall is a large imposing shadow of what appears to be a throne; it is wavering slightly in the candlelight. No shadow of Lady Macbeth can be seen.)

(Shakily at first, voice strengthens with every word, speaks with certainty)

It is done. (Pause) As the sisters foretold; Glamis, Cawdor and the realm! Masters of the Scots are we now, (with an almost awed reverence) Macbeth and I, King and Queen in sovereign state. 

I was right to pursue this road; it has brought us both great rewards, which I shall readily enjoy hereafter.  Macbeth did prove himself a man though I feared he would not. (Pause) I feared he would not dispatch Duncan (scornfully) his lord and master! I judged his heart to be too full of kindness for his kin. (Pause) And I was right! Macbeth faltered in our quest, refusing to do that which needed to be done to catch the nearest way. Indeed, for even when the task was done it was not done as planned; Macbeth returned with still the dripping dagger in his grip. The cretinous fool.

Though he is now the man of expectation, what man was he then? (Begins to pace the stage, speaks with conviction and anger) What man was he, weak-minded to want to alter the course foreseen?  Even when it was he himself who had told me of these marvellous predictions!  When he himself had seemed as overjoyed as I with the prospects given; to then shun this right road of gain for the mere favour of an aged king? Outrageous, unthinkable, intolerable!

(She comes to a standstill and sobs clutching her throat, before regaining her composure)Yet fortune prevailed, for I did goad Macbeth once more, I rekindled his waning fealty to the prize. It was I that did this so, none other did and none other could’ve even if the heralds of heaven had

wished it. No woman, be she mother, wife or queen could be as like a man as I. Being bold and strong of mind is an advantage all of my sex should embrace. For if this was so all of Christendom would be grasped in woman’s hands, cast out the dogs of men! (Pauses for a moment contemplating)

(A strange gust of air flurries through the stage, swirling Lady Macbeth’s hair in a whirl and snuffing out the candle, which she releases from her grip as it plummets to the stage. The candlelight and throne disappear. Lady Macbeth circles the stage

surreptitiously, searching for the source of the draft, before coming to a halt, a haunted look in her eye and breathing heavily.)

(Apprehensively) And still, withal, our place is not secure upon the golden dais. Some do suspect Macbeth of Duncan’s death to my dismay. The Prince of Cumberland and his brother royal still live upon this earth!

(Pause) I must beget a babe, an heir to succeed upon the throne; a barren crown will fall before the seeds of power sown. (She begins to wring her hands, despairingly.) Yet how can I produce a son when sleepless nights are spent, washing, washing out the blood with tortured malcontent.