Parasitism and Stripping of Desire: Lady Macbeth as the “Host” of Macbeth’s Tyrannical Personality
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Parasitism and Stripping of Desire: Lady Macbeth as the “Host” of Macbeth’s Tyrannical Personality

Leqi Liu 1*
1 University of Leeds
*Corresponding author: leqi0428@outlook.com
Published on 4 July 2025
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CHR Vol.72
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-225-6
ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-226-3
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Abstract

Macbeth, as a representative of Shakespeare’s classic tyrant image, reflects the complex psychological contradictions of the character under moral dilemma. Traditional scholarship on Macbeth has long framed the witches as supernatural agents of fate and Lady Macbeth as the manipulative force that awakens Macbeth’s dormant ambition. Such interpretations, however, risk oversimplifying Macbeth’s agency and flattening the psychological symbiosis between the characters. Through analysing the interaction between Macbeth and the witches and comparing the psychological development of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth towards the three murders, this paper argues that Macbeth’s tyranny reflects a parasitism of desire, where psychological outsourcing—a deliberate transfer of agency to the external “host”—allows him to externalize moral conflicts while covertly pursuing ambition. The witches are not external prophecies but manifestations of Macbeth’s latent ambition, while Lady Macbeth functions as a temporary “host” onto whom he projects his morally inadmissible cravings. Meanwhile, he gradually regains and internalizes this desire from Lady Macbeth, which eventually leads to Lady Macbeth’s death and his fusion of the tyrant’s personality. By recasting their relationship through the perspective of parasitic dependency, this paper reasserts Macbeth’s central role in his downfall and illuminates Shakespeare’s critical portrayal of desire as a self-destructive force.

Keywords:

Macbeth, Psychology, Tyrant, Desire, Parasitism

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Liu,L. (2025). Parasitism and Stripping of Desire: Lady Macbeth as the “Host” of Macbeth’s Tyrannical Personality. Communications in Humanities Research,72,8-13.

References

[1]. Bradley, A. C., 1992. Shakespearean Tragedy (Macmillan Education UK), doi: 10.1007/978-1-349-22059-5

[2]. Favila, Marina, 2001. “‘Mortal Thoughts’ and Magical Thinking in ‘Macbeth’”, Modern Philology, 99.1, pp. 1–25, doi: 10.1086/493030

[3]. Amiri, Mehdi, and Sara Khoshkam, 2017. “Gender Identity and Gender Performativity in Shakespeare’s Selected Plays: Macbeth, Hamlet and Merry Wives of Windsor”, Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 8.4, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.4p.1

[4]. Clark, S., & Mason, P. (2015). The Arden Shakespeare: Macbeth. The Third Series. London: Bloomsbury, (0).

[5]. Tîrban, Emilian, 2022. “The Aetiology and the Pyschogenesis of Tyrannical Behaviour in Macbeth”, East-West Cultural Passage, 22.2, pp. 107–24, doi: 10.2478/ewcp-2022-0018

[6]. Süner, Ahmet, 2019. “Air, Bubble and the Horrid Image: The Representation of Fear and the Supernatural in Macbeth”, Neophilologus, 103.4, pp. 591–605, doi: 10.1007/s11061-019-09604-x

[7]. Alfar, Cristina León, 1997. “‘Blood Will Have Blood’: Power, Performance, and Lady Macbeth’s Gender Trouble”, Journal X, 2.2, pp.179-207

[8]. Lacan, Jacques, 1968. “The Mirror-Phase as Formative of the Function of the I”, New Left Review, no. 51, pp. 71-77

[9]. Tassi, Marguerite A., 2018. “Rapture and Horror: A Phenomenology of Theatrical Invisibility in Macbeth”, Explorations in Renaissance Culture, 1, pp. 1–26, doi: 10.1163/23526963-04401001

[10]. Schein, Seth L., 2018. “Tyranny and Fear in Aeschylus’s ‘Oresteia’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’”, Comparative Drama, 52.1/2, pp. 85–102, doi: 10.1353/cdr.2018.0003

[11]. Levin, Joanna, 2002. “Lady MacBeth and the Daemonologie of Hysteria”, ELH, 69.1, pp. 21–55

References

[1]. Bradley, A. C., 1992. Shakespearean Tragedy (Macmillan Education UK), doi: 10.1007/978-1-349-22059-5

[2]. Favila, Marina, 2001. “‘Mortal Thoughts’ and Magical Thinking in ‘Macbeth’”, Modern Philology, 99.1, pp. 1–25, doi: 10.1086/493030

[3]. Amiri, Mehdi, and Sara Khoshkam, 2017. “Gender Identity and Gender Performativity in Shakespeare’s Selected Plays: Macbeth, Hamlet and Merry Wives of Windsor”, Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 8.4, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.4p.1

[4]. Clark, S., & Mason, P. (2015). The Arden Shakespeare: Macbeth. The Third Series. London: Bloomsbury, (0).

[5]. Tîrban, Emilian, 2022. “The Aetiology and the Pyschogenesis of Tyrannical Behaviour in Macbeth”, East-West Cultural Passage, 22.2, pp. 107–24, doi: 10.2478/ewcp-2022-0018

[6]. Süner, Ahmet, 2019. “Air, Bubble and the Horrid Image: The Representation of Fear and the Supernatural in Macbeth”, Neophilologus, 103.4, pp. 591–605, doi: 10.1007/s11061-019-09604-x

[7]. Alfar, Cristina León, 1997. “‘Blood Will Have Blood’: Power, Performance, and Lady Macbeth’s Gender Trouble”, Journal X, 2.2, pp.179-207

[8]. Lacan, Jacques, 1968. “The Mirror-Phase as Formative of the Function of the I”, New Left Review, no. 51, pp. 71-77

[9]. Tassi, Marguerite A., 2018. “Rapture and Horror: A Phenomenology of Theatrical Invisibility in Macbeth”, Explorations in Renaissance Culture, 1, pp. 1–26, doi: 10.1163/23526963-04401001

[10]. Schein, Seth L., 2018. “Tyranny and Fear in Aeschylus’s ‘Oresteia’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’”, Comparative Drama, 52.1/2, pp. 85–102, doi: 10.1353/cdr.2018.0003

[11]. Levin, Joanna, 2002. “Lady MacBeth and the Daemonologie of Hysteria”, ELH, 69.1, pp. 21–55

Cite this article

Liu,L. (2025). Parasitism and Stripping of Desire: Lady Macbeth as the “Host” of Macbeth’s Tyrannical Personality. Communications in Humanities Research,72,8-13.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICADSS 2025 Symposium: Art, Identity, and Society: Interdisciplinary Dialogues

ISBN: 978-1-80590-225-6(Print) / 978-1-80590-226-3(Online)
Editor: Ioannis Panagiotou, Yanhua Qin
Conference website: https://www.icadss.org/Lincoln.html
Conference date: 22 August 2025
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.72
ISSN: 2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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