“Come, you spirits…
…unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull
Of direst cruelty.”
Like Macbeth she asks the powers of darkness to hide her thoughts so that not even the forces the forces of heaven can see through the ‘blanket of the dark’. So the true nature is concealed.
A 17th century audience could find this disturbing as she is subverting the qualities and features of a typical woman. Lady Macbeth would’ve been played by a man, therefore, this speech would become more convincing and realistic. Women in the 17th were usually stereotyped as motherly, meek and complacent towards their husbands. Whereas, Lady Macbeth is an atypical woman who commands her husband.
The similarities that we can draw from Lady Macbeth and the witches are uncovered when Lady Macbeth uses the word ‘raven’ as the whiches also use animals such as a cat and a frog.
Para 3
At the beginning of the scene (act 1 scene 7) Macbeth informs the audience about his doubts and fears which taunt him. Macbeth convinces himself not to murder Duncan by giving three reasons,
“First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed.”
Macbeth is stating that he is a loyal subject to King Duncan. He also says,
“Then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself.”
He is saying that he should be protecting the king rather than trying to kill him. Lastly, Macbeth adds,
“Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels.”
Macbeth’s conscience is very persuasive. He tells himself that Duncan’s goodness and kindness is such that his murder would provoke tremendous outcry. Images of heaven and hell are linked…
Para 4
At the beginning of Act 2 scene 2 the audience can sense that Lady Macbeth waits anxiously for Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is very nervous and agitated,
“Alack! I am afraid they have awaked,
And tis not done: Th’attempt and not the deed
Comforms us.”
This tells us that she is very panicky and doesn’t want to get caught, if she does get caught her life being a queen will be ruined. When Macbeth arrives Lady Macbeth is very happy and knows that the deed, “my husband!” she says. The murder is over and Lady Macbeth is relieved but Macbeth’s got a feeling he might get caught. Macbeth won’t take back the daggers because he is so ashamed that he has done the murder and he can’t say, “Amen.” All this happens because Lady Macbeth ignores the rules of humanity and organised society, pursuing her own ruthless motives.
However, repeatedly Lady Macbeth gives the appearance of being in control but she was unable to kill the king herself, claiming he looked too much like her father,
“ Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.”
This feeling of guilt is a glimpse of a more human side revealed to the audience. She, too, seems to realise the wrongness of the murder. Not much later she advises her husband,
“These deeds must not be thought,
After these ways: so, it will make us mad.”
Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s character is different in this scene. At the start of the scene Lady Macbeth is nervous and doesn’t want to do the murder, but Macbeth is confident and does the murder. After the murder Macbeth is scared and is in a trance of what he has done. Lady Macbeth has calmed down and regained her self-composure.
Para 5
During the banquet in Act 3 scene 4, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo sitting in his place. Lady Macbeth reacts to Macbeth by quietly accusing her husband of being a coward, as she did at the time of Duncan’s murder, “Are you a man?” (p.63). Lady Macbeth tries to attack his masculinity and state of mind by questioning it,
“Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,
You look but on a stool.”(p.63)
She is trying to convince Macbeth that there is nothing there. Lady Macbeth says all he needs is sleep, but this is ironic, as Macbeth has ‘murdered sleep’ and Banquo has risen from his ‘sleep’. Lady Macbeth is trying to cover up for her husband’s behaviour. This behaviour is making Lady Macbeth more insecure and anxious even though she taunts Macbeth, this time she is weary. In contrast to her powerful speeches at the end of act 1, here she only suggests that he needs sleep.
Once the ghost has vanished Macbeth expresses, “I am a man again.”(p.65) Lady Macbeth then utters,
“You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting,
With most admired disorder.” (p.65)
The greater part of the play is devoted to this part. He is king. We see Macbeth in action, others comment on his reign of terror. Macbeth is king but he wants to be safe king where he has nothing to fear and he fears Banquo a lot because he is the only one that has seen and heard the witches tell Macbeth the prophecies: -
“To be thus is nothing,
But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo
Stick deep, and in his royal nature
Reigns that which would be feared.”
Macbeth’s tells the murderers that they were treated badly by Banquo and this is the time to kill him, but Macbeth doesn’t want to get involved in the murder. He wants the murderers to get the blame. The murderers do whatever they are commanded: -
“We shall my lord,
Perform what you command us,
Though our lives.”
This is a sign that being King Macbeth means getting so much respect. In comparison from the moment he is crowned king. Macbeth executes a reign of terror that has already started with the killing of Duncan, together with his wife he is ruthless in pursuing his own selfish aims. He organises the death of those whom he se ...
Macbeth: Lady Macbeth's Character
Lady Macbeth is a controversial figure. She is seen by some as a woman of strong will who is ambitious for herself and who is astute enough to recognise her husband’s strenghts and weaknesses, and ruthless enough to exploit them. They see her in her commitment to evil and in her realisation that the acquisition of the Crown has not brought her the hapipiness she had expected, and finally, as one who breaks down nuder the strain. Others see her as a woman ambitious for her husband whom she loves. She recognises the essential good in him, and feels that, without her, he will never win the Crown. She allies herself with the powers of darkness for his sake, but here inherent(congenital) femininity beraks down under the strain of the unnatural murder of Duncan and the alienation of her husband. She is seen as simple and realistic where Macbeth is complicated and imaginative. She can see what must be done; he visualises the consequence.
There is a vast difference between Macduff’s “O gentle Lady ‘Tis not for you to hear what I can speak The repetition in a woman’s ear Would murder as it fell.” ACT II, Sc.ii and Malcolm’s assessment of her as a “fiend-like queen” (Act IV, Sc.vii). So we must examine the text. To Macbeth, in his letter to her, she is his “dearest partner of greatness”, an indication of love and trust. We see her as she analyses his virtues and weaknesses and decides to overcome his scruples, “hie thee hither That I may pour my spirits at thine ear” Is there any evidence here as to why she wishes him to be king?
Overcome By Ambition - When she calls on the powers of evil to unsex her and make her cruel, does this imply that she fears her own womanliness and realises the unnaturalness of the murder of Duncan? Is she, like Macbeth just an ordinary human being overcome with ambition? Does she really lose her womanliness? Do the words(Act I, Sc. ii) “Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t” imply that she is still a woman with a woman’s tendernesss? Does she show herself strong willed and more determined than Macbeth, Act I, Sc.vii, as she argues and demands his agreement to the murder? Is she alloy by exploiting his love for her when she makes his consent to murder a test of his love? Is she being cynical when she inverts logic and reality in asking him if he is afraid to be what he wants to be and in suggesting that to be a true man he must take what he wants? Must she take some of Macbeth’s guilt here? In the murder scene (ActII, Sc.ii) she resorts to wine to give her courage. Does this also show that she has not been filled from top to toe with “direst cruelty”? She is aware, too, that dwelling on the moral aspect of the murder “will make us mad”.
The Better Criminal? - She seems to be the better criminal; she remembers the details that Macbeth has overlooked, “Why did you bring these daggers from the place?” and shows her as she brings the daggers back. Does she really despise Macbeth when she argues him of wearing “a heart so white”? Or is she afraidfor him that he may betray himself? In Act II, Sc.ii, when she calls for help does she do so because of her feminie weakness, or is she afraid that Macduff may question Macbeth further as to his killing of the chamberlains? If the latter, does it again illustrate her quick thinking?
Unhappiness - In Act III, Sc.ii, Lady Macbeth is coming to realise that the Crown has not brought happiness, “Nought’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content.” Is she suffering from remorse here, or does she think that the murder of Duncan has alienated Macbeth from her? “How now, my Lord! Why do you keep alone?” Is she worried that he is unhappy? She tries to console him, “what’s done is done.” and to rally his spirits. She again shows her presence of mind in the Ghost scene when he becomes ‘unmanned’, but then, she does not see the Ghost. She uses the old stragedy of appealing to his manliness, but without success. When the guests have departed she does not upbraid Macbeth, but makes excuses for him that he lacks “the season of all natures, sleep.” Does this show her gentleness and compassion towards him? Or does she feel that further argument would be useless?
The Sleep-Walking Scene - We do not meet her again until this scene. She has now been reduced to a poor, mad creature, broken by events. Our last view of her is her delusion of nearness to Macbeth. Is there a stress on her sense of guilt, her despair and, perhaps still, her determination? Macbeth’s few words about her (Act V,Sc.v) may be uttered in an indifferent tone, or even with a sense of something already lost. In the end, perhaps, we feel guilty for her, but we may still remember what appeared to be hardness and cruelty.
+Persuading Macbeth
She says that he is acting as if he were drunk when he clothed himself in his hopes to become king. In a powerful speech she explains how far she would ne prepared to go to get what she wanted. Lady Macbeth tells him that if, like him, she had sworn to do something, then, before she would go back on her word, she would ‘pluck her own baby from sucking milk at her nipple and dash its brains out’.
