Abstract
This essay focuses on King Lear, but a passage from Macbeth epitomizes the historical and Shakespearean problem it addresses. Moments after murdering Duncan, Macbeth recounts an incident that took place as he passed the second bedchamber: With unwavering focus, Lady Macbeth admonishes him not to “[c]onsider it […] so deeply,” but Macbeth cannot let it go: “But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’? / I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ / Stuck in my throat” (2.2.29–36).1 This tense conversation reveals Macbeth’s understanding of blessing as both a spiritual need and a spoken wish.2 Although the prayer that he overhears places the power to bless with God, Macbeth’s response emphasizes his own failure to speak. The conjunction of his deeply felt need for blessing with his inability to utter it terrifies him.
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