Lady MacBeth soliloquy

ambtion earnest desire for achievement
holily in a pious, devout, or sacred manner
Glamis the area ruled by MacBeth
hie to hasten, go in haste
hither to or toward this place
complete soliloquy yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou’ldst have, great Glamis, That which cries ‘Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do Than wishest should be undone.’ Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
line 1/11 yet do I fear thy nature,
line 2/11 It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
line 3/11 To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
line 4/11 Art not without ambition, but without
line 5/11 The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly,
line 6/11 That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
line 7/11 And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou’ldst have, great Glamis,
line 11/11 That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
line 8/11 That which cries ‘Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
line 9/11 And that which rather thou dost fear to do
line 10/11 Than wishest should be undone.’ Hie thee hither,
illness unscrupulous disregard for goodness
context Lady Macbeth says this line immediately after reading a letter she has just received from her husband. In that letter, Macbeth informs his wife that the witches have prophesied that he will be King. He is telling Lady Macbeth the news so that she might share in the joy that the prophesy has brought him.Lady Macbeth is indeed overjoyed, and in her excitement she reveals herself to be an extremely ambitious and unscrupulous woman. Her first inclination is to take things into her own hands, doing whatever it might take to make the prophesy come true, and come true as quickly as possible. To this end, she schemes to do away with Duncan, the current King, but she is afraid that Macbeth, although ambitious, is not as ruthless as she is. She is afraid that he is too kind by nature to do what needs to be done so that he can be King right away, and she voices her concern.Lady Macbeth knows her husband is ambitious, but she is afraid he doesn’t have the “illness”, or the unscrupulous disregard for goodness, to act heinously and kill Duncan to gain the crown for himself.
September 5, 2019