Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

1. Dominant

   • After killing duncan
     • She takes control of the situation by smearing the guards with blood after Macbeth breaks down 'Give me the daggers'. She uses many imperatives e.g. 'retire we to our chamber' and 'Get on your nightgown' - the repetition of the imperatives shows how she is commanding
     • We see that she looks down on him when she says 'My hands are of your colour but I shame to wear a heart so white'
   • She has power over him for she can persuade him to kill solely by questioning his manliness
     • Macbeth almost believes that she is more manly then he is less manly than her - her 'undaunted metal should compose nothing but males'
     • Would you rather 'live a coward'... and 'when you durst do it, then you were a man'
   • At the banquet scene she tells the lords to 'speak not' and 'go at once'. Women at this time would usually never have spoken out

2. Weak/Guilty

   • As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth becomes increasingly disturbed. She is weak because her poor choices end up consuming her with guilt
     • She starts sleepwalking, showing how she is no longer in control and her mental decline
       • After killing Duncan she stays 'what' done is done' however she later contradicts herself saying 'what's done cannot be undone'. This suggests that what she did never left her and highlights her guilt
       • Lady Macbeth earlier states how 'a little water clears us of this deed' however now, ironically, she believes she has blood on her hands and shouts 'out damned spot'. However there is not blood on her hands but guilt is stained in her mind instead out it is her who is 'damned'
       • Shakespeare wrights most of the play in blank verse however this scene is one of the few that he wrights in prose. She spoke initially with strong rhythm reflecting her determined grasp of reality but now she speaks in prose reflecting how, just like her speech is breaking down and uncontrollable, she is too
   • She loses her dominance over Macbeth
     • At the start he shows her upmost respect calling her 'my dearest love' but later on in the play he sees himself as above her calling her 'dearest chuck' and tells her to 'be innocent of the knowledge'. Whilst they both talked about killing Duncan he no longer talks to her about his plans - 'why are you keeping to yourself'. She cannot control him
     • She attempts to seem in control by saying to Macbeth 'what's done is done' however this only further shows her weakness to the reader. This is because of the irony when seconds before she was saying how its 'safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy'
   • She herself cannot kill Duncan because 'he resembled [her] father as he slept'

3. Evil

   • When she reads the letter from Macbeth
     • In some ways she is connected to the witches - it is she who brings about their prophesies and resembles the witches when she calls on the spirits of evil during her dramatic monologue. 'Come you spirits...make thick my blood'. At the time people believed in witchcraft
     • She believes she cannot be evil enough if she is a woman and so askes for the spirits to 'unsex her here' and 'take [her] milk for gall'
     • She is shown as evil because her reaction is immediate. Her first thought is that Macbeth 'shalt be what thou art promised'. She is evil for she doesn't believe even a mighty warrior can do what it takes to take the crown. She say's how Macbeth is 'too full o' the milk of human kindness' and she will need to 'pour my spirits in thine ear'

4. Cunning

   • 'look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't' - reference to the bible, would have shocked the people of the time
     • She even does this in practise when say's to Duncan 'All our service in every point twice done and then done double' is nothing compared to the honour you bring
   • After Duncan's death she faints to distract the attention. This shows how she is quick thinking
   • She crafts the plot to kill Duncan
     • 'leave the rest to me' she is confident that she can be cunning so they are not suspected.

5. Determined

   • She will do anything for power
     • Even if she promised to 'pluck [her] nipple from [the babies] boneless gums, and dash'd the brains out' she would still fulfil her promise. The aggressive verb 'dashd' emphasises the brutal lengths she would go to, to achieve something
   • At the start of the play she spoke in blank verse with strong rhythm, this highlights her determination for she knows how she wants the sentences to end and like this she wants the title of queen also