Abstract
Near the conclusion of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the Scottish Doctor of Physic provides two contradictory solutions for curing Lady Macbeth’s troubled mind. On observing Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking and allusions to Banquo’s wife, the Doctor admits to the maidservant that “the disease is beyond my practice,” but remains agnostic about her spiritual condition (5.1.59). After Lady Macbeth unwittingly confesses her complicity in the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and members of the Macduff family, he offers a more conclusive spiritual diagnosis:
Unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.
More needs she the divine than the physician. (5.1.71-4)
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© 2016 Paul D. Stegner
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Stegner, P.D. (2016). Confession and Memory in the Age of Reformations. In: Confession and Memory in Early Modern English Literature. Early Modern Literature in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137558619_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137558619_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-55685-4
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