Macbeth – Act One, Scene Seven

The scene starts with Macbeth performing a silique, stating that King Duncan does not deserve to be killed for his own gain. Lady Macbeth joins the scene and Macbeth shares his thoughts with her and she angrily says “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?” calling him out for being a coward, saying he doesn’t have the balls to get what he wants and in the scenes before she said this would happen. The reason that Lady Macbeth is so upset is that she wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever it takes for power, but she is restricted by her gender. Lady Macbeth gives an extreme example of her commitment to a promise “I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this.” she then goes on telling Macbeth what he’s going to do to assassinate Duncan while he sleeps.