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Moreover, Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as a “poisoner,” ridiculing the preposterous stereotype that witches used poisons for evil purposes, such as to harm or kill someone. Although Lady Macbeth does not poison her husband in the literal sense, she poisons her husband’s mind, causing him to become a different person, a power-hungry tyrant, who will not hesitate to harm anyone who gets in his way. She fills his mind with evil thoughts, tainting his morality to the point where Macbeth is unable to decipher right from wrong. At first, Macbeth is hesitant to follow through with their wicked plan, telling Lady Macbeth that “we will proceed no further in this business” (Shakespeare 1.7.34). Lady Macbeth, however, does not take no for an answer. She psychologically manipulates Macbeth into following through with their plan by repeatedly questioning his manhood and his courage. For example, lady Macbeth tells her husband, “when you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man” (Shakespeare 1.7.56-58). In these lines, Lady Macbeth scolds her husband, telling him that he is acting like a coward and that she will not consider him a true man until he assassinates the king. This evil influence that lady Macbeth has exerted on her husband causes Macbeth to murder King Duncan, an act that he most likely would not have committed on his own.
Not only does Lady Macbeth share characteristics in common with the stereotypical witch, but she also alludes to the act of calling on evil spirits in order to satirize the misogynistic stereotype that witches acted in accordance with outside forces, such as evil spirits and the devil. Lady Macbeth calls on these evil spirits to fill her heart with cruelty so that she can more easily manipulate her husband into killing King Duncan. She calls to the spirits, begging them, “fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood” (Shakespeare 1.5.49-50). Lady Macbeth hopes that these spirits will fill her with the utmost malevolence so that she can completely focus on her evil purpose. Lady Macbeth makes yet another reference to the spirit realm when preparing Macbeth for the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth tells her husband, “hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round” (Shakespeare 1.5.27-30). In this line, Lady Macbeth informs Macbeth that she believes she possesses the necessary evil qualities, which she calls “my spirits,” that Macbeth needs to become king. In addition, Lady Macbeth references the devil when she says, “Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil” (Shakespeare 2.2.70-71). In this line, Lady Macbeth uses her powers of manipulation on Macbeth, causing him to question his courage. She compares him to a frightened child because he will not return to the scene of the crime and frame the drunken guards for King Duncan’s murder. By having Lady Macbeth allude to the spiritual world in this way, Shakespeare mocks the stereotypical view that witches were in league with evil forces, which they used to fulfill their evil intentions.
Lady Macbeth not only references the spirit world, but she also references swine, specifically the killing of swine in order to criticize the absurd stereotype that witches sacrificed these animals. When Lady Macbeth is sleeping, she says, “When in swinish sleep Their drenched natures lie as in a death” (Shakespeare 1.7.77-78). In this line, Lady Macbeth emphasizes the fact that the two guards are now dead, condemned to eternal sleep. She compares the two dead guards to dead swine. The belief that witches killed and sacrificed swine originated far before Shakespeare’s day. Homer’s The Odyssey, which was written in 675-725 BCE, is responsible for contributing to the popularity of this idea. In Homer’s epic, Circe, the Witch of Aiaia drugs a group of sailors and turns them into swine. Not only was it believed that witches killed swine, but it was also believed that they harmed other animals too, sometimes even sacrificing them to the devil. As stated by Michael D. Bailey in Magic and Superstition in Europe, “animals were slain in such magical rites as sacrifices to demons” (Bailey 10). By having Lady Macbeth reference the killing of swine in her sleep, Shakespeare ridicules this ludicrous belief.
It is clear that Lady Macbeth is the fourth witch of Macbeth. Although Lady Macbeth cannot be described as a witch in the supernatural sense, because she does not possess magical powers, she shares several characteristics in common with the stereotypical view of the witch. These characteristics that Lady Macbeth shares in common with the witch, such as her masculinity and manipulative nature are only a portion of the misogynistic stereotypes that are held of witches. By portraying Macbeth as a fourth witch and assigning her these stereotypical characteristics, Shakespeare is able to emphasize their inherent sexist and deceptive nature. Although Shakespeare satirizes these concepts by highlighting their foolishness and bizarreness, he urges the reader to rid themselves of these preconceived notions and adopt their own view of witches, free of stereotypical influence. By bringing these beliefs to light, Shakespeare encourages the reader to develop more open-minded views of witches and the influence that they have had on society.
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