ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents a reading of the marriage of the Macbeths, in parallel with his clinical experience in couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy, of a particular dynamic in couple relationships, that of the "shared proleptic imagination". He seeks to elucidate this concept first by using W. R. Bion's distinction between a "Work Group" and a "Basic Assumption" state of mind, and then by illustrating this dynamic in the relationship of the Macbeths and in a clinical vignette. The author explores these couple dynamics with the help of W. Shakespeare's characters, although it may also be interesting to see how this view of a couple's relationship affects the reader's view of the play as a whole. He shows how important hallucinations are for understanding some of the most difficult dynamics in the intimate couple relationship, and most particularly shared couple hallucinations or a shared proleptic imagination. And in this hallucination, as in dream, a nightmare, Lady Macbeth actions are futile.
