Lady Macbeth takes a very maternal image- that of a nursing mother- and perverts it. Why does she use that image in particular and what is the link...

Ladyattempts to persuadeto kill Kingusing
every trick she knows. She spends a great deal of time attacking his manhood, calling him weak
and fearful. To counter the image she creates of her husband,juxtaposes an image of herself as a
ruthless, courageous individual. She attempts to distance herself from any feminine qualities
because murder would not be considered something that a frail, weak woman would be capable of
doing. Recall that earlier in her , Lady Macbeth had summoned the dark spirits to unsex her
and fill her with direst cruelty. To her, being a woman is a disadvantage because this
situation requires cold-blooded murder, something that a man would be more likely to do.
Therefore, she asks to give up her feminine qualities in favor of the cruelty and strength of a
man. Now, Lady Macbeth does not want to be seen as weak or Macbeth will not listen to her.
Instead, if she appears emotionless, merciless, and callousthe opposite of what women are
considered in her societyhe will admire her and take her words seriously.

In
her persuasive tirade, she tells Macbeth that if she had a child, and if she had made a promise
to her husband to kill the child, she would do so. Such a shocking statement is disturbing for
anyone to make. She, as a woman, purposely makes the statement as yet another attempt to appear
cruel and ruthless. Previously, in her soliloquy, she had asked the dark spirits to take my
milk for gall. She does not want to be maternal or to have emotion, or she could not go through
with such a heinous act. Sentiment would cause both of them to reconsider. Murder requires no
emotion, and she is modeling that behavior for Macbeth. Perhaps she is also trying to convince
herself.