By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Out, damned spot’ is one of the most recognisable phrases uttered by Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s great tragedy. The scene mirrors Macbeth’s earlier references to his own guilt, and acts as a clear indication of how the once-defiant and determined Lady Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most fully realised female villains, has become undone by her own conscience. And she reveals all of this while she’s asleep.