ural strength' she could
overcome with the power of her words, all that might keep Macbeth from becoming
King. When she referred to supernatural strength she could be referring to the
witches' prophecy or to selling her soul to the Devil which she does later in scene
Slightly earlier on in the play, at the beginning of Scene Three, the witches reconvene
before their meeting with Macbeth, upon the heath. The first witch talks about a
sailor's wife who "had chestnuts in her lap" (Act One, Scene Three, Line 4). The
sailor's wife could represent Lady Macbeth. If you change some of the meanings, so
"A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munched, and munched, and munched"
"[Lady Macbeth] had [great power-hungry desire] in her lap
The sailor could then be Macbeth, where a curse is laid upon him, in lines 19-22:
"Sleep shall neither night nor day
Weary sev'n-nights nine times nine," (Act One Scene 3)
These lines from the curse correspond with Macbeth talking to Lady Macbeth after
killing Duncan, when he thought he heard people crying:
"Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep"
"Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more"
Additionally, later in the play, when Macbeth has just murdered Banquo, Lady
" You lack the season of all natures, sleep"
These lines by the witches imply that Lady Macbeth had her own interests at heart as
well as her husband's when she helped him plot to kill the King.
Whatever drives her to encourage Macbeth to kill the King, be it love or ambition
for them both, also drives her to sell her soul to the forces of evil:
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."
If Macbeth should not wish to do the deed it s...