Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers by Henry Fuseli (Interpretation and Analysis)

Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers
Source: Tate Museum

Swiss artist Henry Fuseli can best be described as a painter of horror. Although his work encompassed a variety of topics, his most memorable pieces touch on the liminal space between ordinary life and the world of supernatural horrors. His work explores the dark places in the human psyche, exploring the turbulent landscape of the mind in dark and gory detail. His paintings draw their power from Fuseli’s expert understanding of visual drama. In fact, his masterpiece, The Nightmare, is one of the most quintessential images of the Romantic movement, an artistic movement that drew its inspiration from emotion and individualism.

This painting, entitled Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers, is a particularly striking and evocative example of Fuseli’s work. The piece depicts the scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth in which Macbeth encounters Lady Macbeth after murdering Duncan. Lady Macbeth demands that her husband, who is horrified by what he has done, give her the daggers.

Fuseli communicates the drama of the moment with a ghostly color scheme of grey, blue, and black. His brushstrokes are loose and his style is painterly. As the Tate Museum explains, “Fuseli once wrote that 'All minute detail tends to destroy terrour'...and his intention was to work on the viewer's psyche, rather than to create an accurate representation.” Thus, Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers creates an aura of supernatural terror through suggestion, rather than overt horror.

The Nightmare

Macbeth’s wild-eyed expression and Lady Macbeth’s mien of determination add a degree of emotional and psychological reality that grounds the viewer in the painting.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.