ABSTRACT
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not live out a sexually fertile and creative life together or accept their due place in a natural order of generations, which prescribes respect for parents and the rearing of children, who will eventually replace them. The public and private spheres impact upon one another powerfully in Macbeth. The play begins and ends on the battlefield, but in between its action takes place indoors, in Macbeth’s castle, and in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s private rooms within the castle. The catalyst for the disruptive surge of uncontrolled phantasy or unconscious desire that dominates the action of Macbeth is a state of war, which soon becomes, with the reported treachery of the Thane of Cawdor, civil war. It is because Lady Macbeth has taken this responsibility that she is later overwhelmed with guilt. Where Macbeth always has the option of externalizing his pain in violent action, Lady Macbeth can act only through the agency of her husband.
