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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2889  Saturday, 22 December 2001

From:           Tue Sørensen <tuesoe@s1.stud.ku.dk>
Date:           Saturday, 22 Dec 2001 00:43:36 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 12.2855 (R) Re: Lady Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2855 (R) Re: Lady Macbeth

>> Really? I have always liked the idea that
>> Shakespeare had a specific
>> reason for calling her Lady Macbeth, namely to show
>> how Macbeth and Lady
>> Macbeth are two sides of the same coin (reason and
>> emotion, perhaps),
>> and not distinct enough to have different names. Of
>> course, I may have
>> been assuming too much. Still, can we have some more
>> detail on this?
>> Which are the three speech headers?
>>
>> - Tue Sørensen
>
> If I remember correctly, she is referred to alternately as Macbeth's
> Lady (or M's La), wife (or wif.), or Lady. I assume the abbreviations
> are the compositor fitting the line. It's just interesting that
> technically, we have grown to call her Lady Macbeth.
>
> Brian Willis

Well, Shakespeare must have used a distinctive prefix in his original
version; otherwise how would the compositor know which Macbeth is
speaking?  (One could argue that phrasing and context are sufficient to
tell, but surely this is not the case for every line.) So based on this
I will tend to believe that Shakespeare himself wrote “Lady Macbeth” (or
“Lady” with “Macbeth” being implied). Either that, or there is no
distinction between their names at all, which again reinforces the
reading that they are part and parcel of each other (ego and id,
perhaps).

- Tue Sørensen

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