“And, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood, / Which was not so before” (2.1. 57-58).

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?” (2.2 78-79)

We believe that Lady Macbeth holds the most blame as a result of her coercion to go through with the plan. If she had not convinced him to follow through with the murder, he would have chickened out. Such encouragement is exemplified when she says, “When you durst do it, you were a man; / and to be much more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man” (1.7. 56-58). Lady Macbeth attacks his masculinity in an attempt to inspire the resolve needed to go through with it, emphasizing her as a crucial figure in the murder.

After Macbeth murdered Duncan, he felt immense guilt, showing how his wife played a role in influencing him into doing something he would not have done on his own. Soon after Macbeth murdered Duncan, he and his wife had an argument about the death of the king. When Macbeth is recording what happened to his wife, he describes, “But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’?/I had the most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’/Stuck in my throat.”(2.2.33 -- 34). Here, Macbeth is revealing how he felt so much guilt after the murder that he felt unworthy of God. He knew he had done a very horrible sin, which made the word “amen” feel “stuck in '' in his throat. His shame in his actions emphasizes how he would have likely never committed the murder if Lady Macbeth had not been judgmental of his supposed “cowardness”. 

Why do you think the actual murder is not in the play?

We believe that without Lady Macbeth's encouragement and influence, Macbeth would not have followed through with the murder. One piece of evidence is when Lady Macbeth says, “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place /…/ And we’ll not fail. /…/ When Duncan is asleep, his two chamberlains /…/ Will I with wine and wassail so convince /…/ That memory, the warder of the brain /…/ Shall be a fume, and the recipes of reason /…/ A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep /…/ Their drenched natures lie as in a death /…/ What cannot you and I perform upon Th’ unguarded Duncan? /…/ What not put upon /…/ His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt of our great quell.” ( 1.7. 69-82). This quote shows how Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth by questioning his masculinity and, by doing this, unconsciously makes Macbeth want to prove it. She also gives Macbeth ideas to kill him, saying they will not fail if they do everything according to their plan. 

We believe that Macbeth would not have murdered Duncan without Lady Macbeth’s influence. He wasn’t convinced that killing Duncan was the right thing to do, as evident when he states, “We will proceed no further in this business. / He hath honored me late, and I have bought / golden opinions from all sorts of people, / which would be worn now with their newest gloss / not cast aside so soon” (1.7. 34-38). Macbeth starts to try to defend Duncan from his own ambition, which displays his inability to go through with the murder without help.

We believe the actual murder is not in the play because although Duncan’s murder is an important plot point, the emotional turmoil that Macbeth experiences throughout the planning and execution of the murder is highlighted. The moment when Macbeth shifts his mind to kill Duncan is when Duncan is truly murdered, resulting in a lack of need to exhibit the murder itself. Macbeth’s thoughts are presented in the lines, “How is ‘t with me when every noise appalls me? / What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.” (2.2. 76-77).