Act 1 Scene 5

Act 1 Scene 5

1. Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth's letter- about Witches prophecies

   • She calls on evil spirits
   • Fears Macbeth is too decent and squeamish to murder Duncan

2. Relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth

   • Closeness
     • 'My dearest partner of greatness'
       • She shares his joys
         • She is ambitious for the both of them
           • 'what greatness is promised'
             • 'golden round'
               • adjective 'golden'
                 • crown- symbol of power that she is fixated on
       • Repetition of 'greatness' - drive for power- grandeur of being queen and king
   • Macbeth retells an honest account of what happened
   • Macbeth says 'My dearest love'
     • love/affection between the two of them

3. STRUCTURE

   • Letter is written in prose
     • Comments in blank verse
       • Sets the two sections apart- two different voices

4. Fears Macbeth is too decent

   • 'too full o'th'milk of human kindness'
     • MATERNAL IMAGERY
       • milk- nourishing-natural-innocence of the baby
     • Not manly enough- questioning/doubting him

5. Lady Macbeth is deceptive- ill in her intentions

   • Uses euphemisms
     • 'To catch the nearest way'
       • hinting at killing Duncan
       • 'great business'
         • business like- lack of emotions- morals/ conscience

6. LADY MACBETH'S SOLILOQUY

   • Building excitement
     • Repetition of 'come'
       • Chant like- summoning evil spirits
         • Element of supernatural introduced
     • 'To cry 'Hold, hold'
       • Overwhelmed- totally taken over by the supernatural
       • shouting
   • 'the raven himself is hoarse'
     • Raven- omen of death/evil spirits
       • reference to 'hell' - rejecting heaven
     • 'toe topfull of direst cruelty'
       • superlative- making all of her evil
         • Repeated use of superlatives 'dunnest smoke of hell''
           • Summoning the utmost evil/pure evil
             • Repeated references to darkness and hell- covering everything completely- reflects the audiences beliefs and fears about such ideas
   • 'Take my milk for gall'
     • echo of 'milk o'th' human kindess'
     • contrast to before- evil nature/ poison
   • 'solely sovereign sway and masterdom'
     • sibilance- regular rhythm- her dominance

7. Repeated theme of APPEARANCE AND REALITY

   • 'look like th'innocent flower, but be the serpent under't'
     • natural, pure innocent
       • contrast between the snake- biblical association- devil