Macbeth Quote Analysis

Responding to Macbeth's fearful question 'If we should fail?', Lady Macbeth dismisses the possibility of failure and urges him to commit fully to the plan.

The imperative 'screw your courage to the sticking-place' uses the mechanical image of tightening a peg or string to its maximum tension—courage is not inspired but installed, like tuning an instrument to the exact pitch before it snaps. The phrase 'sticking-place' implies both firmness and danger: tighten it enough and it holds; tighten it too much and it breaks, which mirrors the murder plan itself.

Support a thesis that Lady Macbeth treats courage as a technical problem, not a moral one—her language is about calibration and control, which makes the murder sound like skilled work rather than a crime, removing the emotional weight that paralyzes Macbeth.