Macbeth

            The assessment, that Macbeth is a "dead butcher" and Lady Macbeth is his is "fiendlike queen", is right on the mark. Macbeth has shown himself to be a butcher throughout the play. Lady Macbeth is fiendlike because not only does she pray to be un-sexed, but she also prays to be filled "from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty." So in that way she is fiend-like.
             Macbeth is a vicious butcher throughout the play. In Act 2 he kills the King of Scotland in his own castle, Inverness. This is the first time we see the brutality of Macbeth. Not only does Macbeth cut Duncan's throat in his sleep, he does it in Macbeth's own castle where Duncan is a guest. In Act 3 Macbeth orders the murder of his dear friend Banquo and Banquo's son Fleance. Fleance escapes after the murder of his father. This is another example of how Macbeth does care who is killed as long as he is still King. Later in Act 4 after Macbeth finds out Macduff has betrayed him; he orders the murders of Macduff's wife and child. Macduff's family is the completely innocent bystanders here, but Macbeth shows no remorse for the killings.
             Lady Macbeth could be considered "fiendlike" since she prays to some type of spirits to make her crueler. In Act 1 we hear Lady Macbeth praying to be unsexed. This would make her crueler, so she could kill King Duncan herself. Also in that speech she is heard as saying "fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood." Lady Macbeth wishes she were more ruthless like a man because she wouldn't hesitate to kill like Macbeth. .
             I agree with the dismissal of Malcolm of Macbeth and his queen as "this dead butcher and his fiendlike queen." Macbeth proved to be a butcher by killing his King, and then having his friend killed. Even though he thought about not starting this chain of events by killing Duncan, the witches" prophecies of Macbeth becoming King were too realistic for Macbeth to pass off as absurd.