How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman?

How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman?

1. 'Under my battlements'.

   • Possessive - showing that she feels powerful. This also suggests that she has power over Macbeth, but it could also show that she is delusional form the prospect of power.
     • In the Middle Ages, women did not have any power, and they were not allowed to own property. In Jacobean times, women also did not have any power, and all of the female parts in plays were played by men.
     • The control of power swaps: at the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is the person who wants to fulfil the prophecies and murder Duncan, but she ends up going crazy and Macbeth gains power.

2. 'Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts'.

   • Imperative verbs show how she desires power - and how she is not afraid of her decision, showing that she is tenacious and has a strong resolve.
   • However, Lady Macbeth is calling for spirits, showing that she needs to be given power by another.

3. 'Make thick my blood'.

4. 'Come to my woman's breasts'.

   • This could infer that she already feels separated from her femininity. She also asks the spirits to take he 'milk for gall', and is separated from a symbol of femininity - which is the only weapon that she could have as a woman. The physical appearance of a woman could secure her future, and it also was used to judge the fertility of a woman. As it is suggested that Lady Macbeth has lost a child, this could eb used as a cue for her to be separated from her femininity.
     • This contradicts how Lady Macbeth was regarded earlier on in the play - as a perfect housewife. Femininity is her most prominent feature at the beginning of the play, but it then becomes her alibi. King Duncan calls her 'our honoured hostess' - one of the jobs of wife in the Middle Ages. By saying 'honoured', it shows that the king (the closest thing to God, according to the Divine Right of Kings) thinks highly of her. This conveys how her conformity to stereotypes disguises her plans and true nature from King Duncan; this enables her to hold power over the men in the play and to have most of the control for the beginning of the play.