For my close reading, I’m going to examine Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 49-58:
“Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it.
Come, put mine armor on. Give me my staff.
Seyton, send out.—Doctor, the thanes fly from me.
Come, sir, dispatch.—If thou couldst, doctor, cast
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo,
That should applaud again.—Pull ’t off, I say.—
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug,
Would scour these English hence? Hear’st thou of them?”

In this scene, the doctor has just informed Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is not doing well. That she isn’t physically sick but she is having visions that keep her from sleeping. After asking if there is medicine that could help her, the doctor responds with “therein the patient must minister to himself,” meaning that her type of illness can’t be solved with medication, she needs deeper help, and to find inner peace that would absolve her of her night terrors. Macbeth’s response to this is the above passage.
I interpreted “Throw physic to the dogs” as physic meaning mental illness, and throw it to the dogs, like forget about it. Basically, saying that if it’s not a physical ailment that can be cured by medicine, it doesn’t matter. It is interesting to me that this is still an issue today, people not recognizing mental illness as a real issue. Since she is not physically sick and can’t be treated with medicine, Macbeth stops caring. As soon as the doctor told him that medicine can’t help, Macbeth lost interest and began barking instructions at Seyton. Then he changed the subject, asking the doctor to diagnose the country. It shows that by the end, Macbeth only cared about gaining power and becoming king, in charge of the most powerful army.

Because her mental illness went untreated and ignored, Lady Macbeth ended up committing suicide. Even though she showed warning signs and a doctor suggested that she needed help, no one helped her. It is very sad how mental illness is still not taken seriously today and this exact situation happens to people all over the world.

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