Lady Macbeth Monologue (Act 5, Scene 1)
Today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the most beloved monologues in all of Shakespeare. Lady Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1, otherwise known as ‘Out damn’d spot’. There is a reason that this speech is so famous and so misquoted. It’s brilliant but also deceptively tricky for the actor. So if you’re looking for a brilliant piece of text that will challenge you, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get into it.
Context
Quick caveat! People often forget that this famous monologue is not technically a monologue. There are other people present and speaking during her monologue, but Lady Macbeth cannot hear them. Because, unfortunately at this stage, she’s gone a bit mad. Since Lady Macbeth is as unaware of this dialogue, so are we as the actors playing her. Accordingly we’re going to look at this scene as though it were a monologue. Because it might as well be!
We’re right at the start of Act 5 in this monologue. Last act of the play, let’s go! Things are ready to get real. Up to this point, Lady M has been going through it. Her brief lived success with her husband becoming king has come at a price. She is starting to lose her mind from the guilt and suspicion, and her mental health is reflecting that.
Let’s recap what’s happened. Before the play even starts, Lady M and Macbeth have lost a child at some unspecified time. They try to move on from that and Macbeth, her husband, goes off and does his job vanquishing foes on the battlefield for Scotland.
Upon his return he and his buddy Banquo run into some “weird sisters”, or as we will refer to them, witches. The witches taunt the two war heroes, but lay down: a prophecy. Ohhhhh. They tell him that he will be Thane of Cawdor, then one day he’s going to be King. Like, the actual king! They also mention that Banquo won’t be king, but that his sons will. He tells Lady M about this in a letter and they get really excited. When Macbeth gets given a new title as Thane of Cawdor they’re both wigging out. The first part of the prophecy has come true. When they find out the current king is coming to the house that night, So Lady M convinces him to speed up the process a little by killing the King! Easy right? No!
They are not evil people, but their ambition knows no bounds. She convinces him to do it, and Macbeth kills the King in cold blood. Macbeth becomes King, and this sets them off on a bloody and secretive tirade costing a number of lives of both men, women and children. They also kill Banquo, afraid that he will usurp Macbeth’s crown.
And so we find ourselves at Act 5, Scene 1. Lady Macbeth’s mental health has degraded so much that she is sleepwalking and talking to herself, seeing things that aren’t there. With the guilt of all of those slaughters and the figurative and literal blood on her hands she sleepwalks remembering the things she’s done and saying this out loud.
Original Text
LADY
Yet here’s a spot.
DOCTOR
Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes
from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more
strongly.
LADY
Out, damned spot: out, I say. One; two. Why
then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord,
fie, a soldier and afeared? What need we fear? Who
knows it when none can call our power to account?
Yet who would have thought the old man to have
had so much blood in him?
DOCTOR
Do you mark that?
LADY
The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?
What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more
o’that, my lord, no more o’that. You mar all with
this starting.
DOCTOR
Go to, go to. You have known what you should
not.
GENTLEWOMAN
She has spoke what she should not, I
am sure of that. Heaven knows what she has known.
LADY
Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
Oh, oh, oh.
DOCTOR
What a sigh is there. The heart is sorelycharged.
GENTLEWOMAN
I would not have such a heart in my
bosom, for the dignity of the whole body.
DOCTOR
Well, well, well.
GENTLEWOMAN
Pray God it be, sir.
DOCTOR
This disease is beyond my practice: yet I have
known those which have walked in their sleep, who
have died holily in their beds.
LADY
Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look
not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he
cannot come out on’s grave.
DOCTOR
Even so?
LADY
To bed, to bed: there’s knocking at the gate. Come,
come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done,
cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.
Unfamiliar Language
Afeared: Afraid
Mar: Ruin
Modern Translation (Monologue Only)
There’s a spot
Come off you damned spot! Come off, I said! One ring, two rings. Well then it must be time to do it. Hell is a murky place! Come on, my love, come on! You’re a soldier and you’re afraid? Why should we be afraid that someone will find us out when no one can challenge our power? Still, who would have thought the old King would bleed so much?
The Thane of Fife also had a wife. What happened to her? What will these hands never be clean? Stop that my love, stop that. You’re going to ruin everything by showing so much fear.
I can still smell the blood. All the perfume in Arabia couldn’t stop my hand from smelling.
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Wash your hands and put on your robe, don’t look so sick with fear. I’ll say it again, Banquo is buried in the ground and he isn’t going to come out of his grave!
Go to bed, go to bed. I can hear knocking at the gate. Come, come, come come hold my hand. We can’t undo what we’ve done. Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed.
Notes on Performance
So as you can see from the original text there is some other dialogue happening pertaining to what the doctor and nurse are seeing but Lady Macbeth being asleep and mentally unwell is completely oblivious to that. So this can be, and often is, played as a monologue.
Now onto the actual acting. It should be noted that Lady Macbeth’s mental health degrades so much throughout the play that it is alluded to but never confirmed that she commits suicide not long after this scene takes place. This should give you an idea of just how poorly she is. She is literally seeing things that aren’t there, convinced she is in Hell already, and talking to herself.
When it comes to the spot, make sure you know exactly where on your hand it is and find some way to make that real for yourself. Decide whether it is actually a real spot that won’t come out, or if it is a purely imagined stain. Many actors find that thinking its a real spot helps them, even though it may all be in Lady M’s mind. There is much to explore in the physicality of trying to remove that spot, whether it’s rubbing the spot, washing your hands, or another option.
Another huge thing I’d like to bring your attention to in this monologue is that these thoughts are not linear. Some are memories, some are pure catastrophizing. The actor is tasked with jumping from image to image, memory to memory, and thought to thought quickly. So keep moving and lean into the fact that it doesn’t really make sense. Move quickly, follow the text and the pacing will take care of itself.
Some actors find a lot of fun and freedom in this moment of insanity for Lady M, as the physicality options are enormous. Does she address people who aren’t there? Or move in a way that is outside of the normal structures of society? Don’t lean in to playing an idea of what a ‘crazy person ‘ is, find specific choices that help to show she’s not in her right mind. For example, does she find something amusing that isn’t amusing at all? Seem frightened by something innocuous? Are her emotions even and measured, or do they change rapidly?
Taking the time to really work each section of the text and explore its possibilities will make this monologue so much richer! There is no wrong way to do it, and so much to explore.
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