By the end of Act II What impressions have you formed of Lady Macbeth / Macbeth?

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By the end of Act II What impressions have you formed of Lady Macbeth/Macbeth?

  My impression of Lady Macbeth throughout the first two Acts of Macbeth is formed

 by the following;

  • Lady Macbeth’s relationship/behaviour with her husband Macbeth.

  • Lady Macbeths Behaviour with others.

  Lady Macbeth is definitely the stronger character in the first half of the play. Even

before she appears, we hear about her in Act 1 Scene 2 line 54 where she is referred to

as Bellona the Roman goddess of war. This gives the audience an impression of a

strong forceful woman.

      The first time we actually meet Lady Macbeth is in Act 1 Scene 5 line 1.

 She enters reading a letter from Macbeth. On line 9, Macbeth refers to her as ‘my

dearest partner of greatness’.

 This quote shows the enormous amount of respect Macbeth has for his wife. He

treats Lady Macbeth as his equal and trusts her enough to tell her about his meeting

with the weird sisters. This is unusual behaviour for a man of the

 Elizabethan period; relationships between men and women tended to be one sided

 The men considered themselves to be superior and women accepted it.

 

         At this point in the play, I believe Macbeth depends on his wife, loves her and

 needs her opinion, this is shown throughout his letter to her.

 However, I think she is with him for other reasons, I believe she

 Is power hungry she needs power. This could be one of the reasons why she is

 determined to make Macbeth the King.  The crown will give her the high social

status that she craves.  

  As much as Macbeth treats his wife as an equal she, on the other hand, treats

Macbeth as a fool .An example of this is in Act 1, Scene 7, lines 38 onward.

She says;

‘Art thou afeard

Join now!

To be the same in thine own act and valour,

As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that

Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,

And live a coward in thine own esteem,

Letting I dare not wait upon I would,

Like the poor cat I’th’adage?’

Lady Macbeth has a strong hold over Macbeth she can easily manipulate him. She

 knows her husband so well she knows what buttons to push to get exactly what she

wants. For example whenever she wants to gain control over Macbeth she questions

 his manhood; this seems to ...

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