Lady Mabeth

Lady Mabeth

1. Ambition

   • is seen with pure negative consquence and how it can take over from a persons moral boundaires
   • temptation is a LUST for POWER
   • she has far greater strength of will than her husband. While he hesitates and is distrustful of his powers, she never wavers. She needs no supernatural temptations to urge her on. While reading her husband's letter, she determines on the coarse to be pursued, and nothing turns her from that course until the goal of her ambition is reached
   • "the future in the instant"
     • always looking ahead rather than dwelling on the past
   • "But screw your courage to the sticking-place And we'll not fail"
     • thinks its 'foolish' to get upset about it
   • "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promised"
     • Lady Macbeth's thoughts immediately turn to murder. Problem: Macbeth has ambition, but he doesn’t have the nerve to see it through. Luckily Lady Macbeth is man enough for both of them.
   • "make thick my blood"
     • idea of thick blood is that thick blood will stop female qualities from reaching her mind
   • 'hope' is another word for 'ambition' & perhaps 'temptation'
     • "was hope drunk / where in you dressed yourself"
       • she tells MB this as he expresses doubt an killing Duncan
         • IRONIC
           • as she must reply on the supernatural to 'make [her] bold' before executing her ambitious plans
             • but then relies she cannot deal wth her own hope & kills herself
   • however, later on LMB discovers power without security isnt worth it "to be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus"... she finds she cannot enjoy it 'without content

2. calculating & controlling

   • plans ahead, orders MB around
     • "leave the rest to me"
     • "look like th' innocent flower but be the serpent under't"
       • secrecy
   • "Come you spirits, unsex me here"
     • "And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty"
       • talking to the spirits, to darken her, to fill her with the deadly cruelty
   • "take my milk for gall"
     • isnt sure if MB is man enough,.... 'unsex me here' is a way of asking to be stripped from femiinine weakness...
   • "What's done is done"
     • there's no changing the past, so learn from it and move on
   • "speak not" "got at once"

3. Consequence leads to guilt

   • "out damned spot.."
     • shes constantly washing her hands , guilt makes the stains seem indelible to her
       • she even smells it "here's the smell of blood still"
         • BUT tries to reassure her & MB saying 'whats done is done' "whats done cannot be undone"
           • only way to escape the trauma is to end her life
   • cannot sleep in the dark... scared.. and then when she does she ends up sleepwalking
   • thru visions, blood, sleepwalking

4. loving nature towards MB

   • willing to sacrifice herself, man herself up
   • CONTRDICTS
     • COLD
       • "a sorry sight"
         • describing MB hands

5. supernatural