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 so sworn as you Have done to this.

I have given suck, and know
How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me:
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 so sworn as you
Have done to this.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. Lady Macbeth is the complete antithesis of what most people’s image of a woman and mother is. She describes herself as having been a loving and nurturing mother in the past. But she shockingly admits she would kill her own suckling baby before abandoning the plan to seize power and take the Scottish throne. Consumed with uncontrolled ambition, she is prepared to use every means to pressurize and shame Macbeth into killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s extreme words paint a picture of a woman with a very disturbed mind, foreshadowing her later descent into complete madness.

William Shakespeare Quotes