A sorry sight

I'm Macbeth. And I really dig the idea of sitting on a throne. When I'm told I might get the chance, I murder anyone who dares to get in my way.

I'm Lady Macbeth. I'm a strong, powerful woman. I know what I want and I'm not afraid to go after it.

And you know what we think?

MACBETH
Looking on his hands This is a sorry sight.

LADY MACBETH
A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. (2.2.20-21)

Who Said It and Where

Macbeth wants to be King so bad he can taste it. So why should he let Duncan (the current throne-holder) get in the way of his dream? Is murder really that bad if you want to be king? After all, some creepy witches prophesize he'll get the crown, so maybe it's meant to be.

Wishy-washy Macbeth debates what to do ad nauseam. In fact, he hems and haws so much, his wife (that would be Lady Macbeth) even calls him chicken a few times.

Long story short? Macbeth goes through with the murder and whacks Duncan so he can have the throne. We'd be lying if we didn't tell you it's at least partly because Lady Mac gave him a good tongue-lashing about his being a wimp. She even came up with a plan to frame Duncan's guards with the murder so Macbeth can get off scot-free. They'll simply plant the bloody daggers on the guards after they've done the deed.

Alone on stage, Lady Macbeth tells us that she's already drugged the King's guards and would've killed Duncan herself, if he hadn't looked so much like her father in his sleep. Apparently, now she's all family values.

That's when Macbeth enters with bloody hands and a weird story: two people woke up while he was in the act. One cried, "Murder!" but they both went back to sleep after saying their prayers. Macbeth is disturbed that he couldn't say "amen" because he's got one big guilty conscience. We're pretty sure we would too if we'd just killed a king while he was asleep in our house.

Then the deviant couple agrees that Macbeth—with bloody daggers in hand—is a sorry sight. We couldn't have said it better ourselves.