Shakespeares dramatisation of scenes of persuasion

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English GCSE Coursework 2007: Macbeth

Shakespeare’s dramatization of scenes of persuasion

           Neil Morris 4.2


Persuasion of Macbeth by Lady Macbeth

All quotations taken from Act I Scene VII

Initially Macbeth is hesitant and not completely confident that he should commit the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth then makes him feel guilty that he does in fact desire Duncan dead and is reluctant and fearful of working towards achieving that. She uses the proverb “Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” wherein Macbeth is like a cat that wants the fish but is unwilling to wet her paws, i.e. make a compromise in order to achieve what he desires. Lady Macbeth then explains how she has “given suck”, that is having given birth a child, and has sacrificed a lot more in her past than Macbeth has. This somewhat persuades Macbeth to murder Duncan, but he is still hesitant due to fear of failure of not producing an obvious trace: “If we should fail?” to this Lady Macbeth responds by saying. “But screw your courage to the wall/ and we’ll not fail.” By this, Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that if he musters all his courage and uses it to murder Duncan then he is effectively ruling out the possibility of failure, and that he won’t fail if he puts his mind to it and that once the murder has been committed he can place the knives into the hands of one of Duncan’s guards who would be asleep, who can later be framed for the murder of King Duncan: “What not put upon his spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt/ Of our great quell?”

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Eventually Macbeth is persuaded by Lady Macbeth’s encouragement of him, by saying that the possibility of his failure was very slim if he gathered all his courage and used it at once. Also Macbeth is significantly swayed by Lady Macbeth’s impeccable planning and the flawlessness of her plan.

Section 2—Unsuccessful Persuasion of Banquo by Macbeth

All quotations taken from Act II scene I lines 10-30.

This section deals with the unsuccessful persuasion of Banquo by Macbeth, and unintentionally giving Banquo the notion that Macbeth is inviting him to be a part of a conspiracy.

When Macbeth enters the room, Banquo ...

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