Lady Macbeth's Period

In her article, "A Strange Infirmity," Jenijoy La Belle points out that Lady Macbeth, in preparing to murder Duncan in order to assure a certain line of kingship, asks a preternatural being to allow her menstruation to stop, assuming, psychologically, that it will make her less "feminine" and able to do the deed. Very interesting read indeed.

John Singer Sargent, Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1889, Tate Gallery, London

 

Note that the dress in this picture, as it exists today with the beetle wings all over being refurbished, is included in an earlier post from last spring.