Thou wouldst be great; / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it.
Act I, Scene 5 · Lady Macbeth
Context
Continuing her private assessment of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth identifies exactly what she believes holds him back from taking the crown by force.
Analysis
The word 'illness' makes evil sound like a necessary companion to ambition—a sickness that paradoxically enables health (success). This medical diction reframes moral corruption as a practical requirement, as if ruthlessness were a symptom one must accept rather than a choice one makes, subtly absolving Macbeth of agency even as she pushes him toward murder.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Shakespeare uses disease imagery to show how Lady Macbeth medicalizes evil—by calling cruelty an 'illness' that 'should attend' ambition, she makes murder sound like an unavoidable side effect rather than a moral crime.