This is a very powerful speech by Lady Macbeth, from this we get the idea that she was not born evil but becomes possessed by evil spirits, which make her a very evil and cruel woman. From the language used in this quote we get a good idea of just how evilly she can be portrayed. There are many violent words in her speech, which show a violent side to her character, such as; ‘murdering ministers’, ‘direst cruelty’ and ‘wound’. These are all very horrible words and they are also very strong and powerful, they help to show that she is turning into a very violent woman and that she believes she is capable of doing anything. Some of the language used represents some very unpleasant images, like; ‘unsex me’, ‘thick blood’ and ‘smoke of hell’. All of these images are really disgusting and they show us what an unpleasant woman she is turning into. They also show the drastic lengths that she is prepared to go to. The words ‘unsex me’ suggests that she wants all of her female parts to be ripped away from her, showing that she doesn’t think she can do it as a woman. This is why she is sometimes portrayed as a strong and powerful character, overpowering her husband. Also the words ‘take my milk for gall’ suggest that she does not want any of the parts that make her a woman. This is a particularly disturbing image and suggests that she wants her milk turned into bile. There are also some harsh sounds in her speech that show how evil she can be, for example; ‘knife’, ‘gore’, ‘crook’ and ‘cruelty’. These sounds are very hard sounds, ‘k’ ‘g’ and ‘cr. When she says these words it shows what a hard and strong character she is. This is another quote that shows how evil she is when she makes it clear that she wants Duncan dead; ‘O never shall sun that morrow see.’ This shows tat she is heartless and cruel.
If I were going to play Lady Macbeth would not portray her as an evil and cruel character. As my view of her is that she is just a very loving and supportive wife. I think that her love for her husband is so strong that she is prepared to do anything to support him in his ambition to become king. I think that this would be a more complex way to show her and it would show more than just one side to her character. I think that she is prepared to push Macbeth into becoming king and she would go to such extreme measures to allow herself to be evil and overpowering so that Macbeth will listen to her and she cannot bear the thought of Macbeth not being able to fulfil his dream and ambition of becoming king. I think that she fears that if she does not push him he will become unfulfilled, bitter and twisted. So I think that she believes it is her duty to be loving and supportive to pressure him to fulfil his ambitions.
There is a lot of evidence in the play that suggest that her character is loving and supportive, rather than just pure evil. We know that she is not naturally evil because she has to let evil spirits into her body to allow herself to be evil. We also know that she feels weak and unable to do it as a woman because she says; ‘unsex me here’. This shows that she is not born evil but is likely to have been made that way by evil spirits just so that she can support her husband. We also know that she herself cannot physically commit the murder because she says that the king reminds her of her own father. This quote shows this; ‘Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’ t’. This shows that she is not capable of killing herself as she shows so much sentiment, so she cannot possibly be pure evil. Other evidence that shows that Lady Macbeth is not evil is that her and her husband work as a team when planning and committing the murder. Their intense love seams to keep them going and able to work together so strongly. When Macbeth has doubts she quickly persuades him, possibly bringing out what he really wants. They then start to plan the murder together, this gives the sense of a shared project. Macbeth than takes over the planning and improves on the original plan. This quote shows Macbeth explaining his idea; ‘will it not be received with blood those, sleepy two of his own chamber and used their own daggers, that they have done’ t?’ this quote shows that Macbeth has strong ideas and improves on Lady Macbths ideas. This shows that they work extremely well as a team. It also shows how they seam to feed off and support and improve each other’s ideas. They also seam to get a sexual kick from planning the murder together, which shows how strong their relationship is. Macbeth commits the murder but Lady Macbeth supports him by taking the knives back to the room. This quote shows this; ‘Give me the daggers…I’ll gild the faces of the grooms with blood.’ The way that they work as a team shows that they have a strong relationship and support each other. Which shows why Lady Macbeth would have good reason to support her husband so much in his bid to be king.
We get the impression that Lady Macbeth has to persuade Macbeth to commit the murder, it is unlikely that he would have done it if it was not for her strong persuasion techniques. As he changes his mind several times and it is very unclear whether he really wants to do it or not or whether it is because of Lady Macbeth that he goes through with it.
Lady Macbeth puts forward any arguments in the play that all contribute to the persuading Macbeth to finally go through with it. First of all she reminds him that it was in fact his own idea in the first place to kill the king. This may make Macbeth feel stupid or a wimp or coward for coming up with the idea but not having the guts to go through with it. She also reminds him that he has made a promise to her that he will do it and she says that he cant love her if he brakes that promise. This is what she says; ‘From this time, such I account thy love’. By doing this she is threatening their relationship and she thinks that if Macbeth loves her he will have to do it as he will not risk losing her. She may make him feel stupid by torturing him in this way because he might think that he is weak and pathetic for not being able to this one thing to hold onto his wife.
Lady Macbeth calls him a coward for having doubts. She says this; ‘live like a coward in thine own esteem.’ She also makes another reference to him being a coward by saying this; ‘look so green and pale.’ Calling him a coward is obviously going to make him feel stupid and small and this is probably exactly how she wants to make him feel. Also being called a coward by a woman and his own wife would probably make him feel even worse. As at that time men were supposed to hold power over their wives, not the other way around. So by saying all of these powerful things to him it would probably make him feel even more stupid for having doubts. He may also feel that he has to prove her wrong and regain the power in their relationship. She also says that he is not a real man and she taunts his masculinity. She says this; ‘when you durst do it, then you were a man’. This would make him feel really weak and stupid and in think that’s he knows that by telling him he is not a real man will humiliate him and make him feel worthless. Being told this, especially by his own wife would probably make him feel really bad and it would probably push him even further into giving into her and going trough with it. Throughout the time she is trying to persuade him she continuously mocks and teases him. She probably does this to make him realize how stupid she thinks he is and to make sure that she is all the time pushing him that little bit further into giving into her.
Another argument she uses to try and persuade him is how she reminds him of what his ambitions are and how much he wants to be king. She says this; ‘Was the hope drunk wherin you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?’ all of the other things she has said have been to tease him and make him feel stupid and powerless. Here she is trying to tell him that he will be letting himself down and that he will regret it if he does not do it. She also reassures him and tells him that if they are determined they will not fail. She says; ‘But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.’
One of the strongest arguments that she uses is when she says that she would kill her own baby rather than break a promise that she made to him. She says; ‘I have given suck and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.’ I think that she uses this argument to show him how much she would be prepared to give up for him to help him to reach his ambitions. She probably thinks that this will make him feel guilty as she would be prepared to give up so much to help him and he may not be able to do it himself. I think that also by saying this she uses terrible, violent imagery to shock him into action. As what she says and the language she uses is so strong and horrible that it may overpower him. In her speech she uses a mixture of tender and violent words. Tender words like; ‘smiling’ ‘tender’ ‘love’ ‘milks’ ‘suck’ ‘babe’ and ‘nipple’. Followed by harsh, violent words and images like; ‘plucked’ ‘boneless’ and ‘dashed the brains out’. This may at first make him feel sorry and guilty and then give him the shock he needs to go through with it.
Lady Macbeth takes a big part in carrying out the murder. First of all she persuades him to go through with it, and then she does all of the initial planning, saying when, where and how they will do it. This quote shows this; ‘and you shall put the nights great business into my dispatch.’ She then prepares the murder for Macbeth to carry out, she says this; ‘I laid their daggers ready.’ After the murder she is rational and practical as she finds solutions to how they can get away with it.
After the murder Macbeth must be starting to feel a mixture of emotions and we can only guess at his state of mind. He may be feeling fear, regret and guilt. He murders the two guards to protect himself, but he never told Lady Macbeth about it and when she sees them she suddenly faints. This quote shows when she fainted; ‘Help me hence, ho!’ There could be many reasons for why she suddenly fainted. It could be because she is worried that people might see through Macbeth’s elaborate excuses. So she thinks that she ahs to act quickly to distract attention. But I think that she is actually genuinely shocked and overcome at seeing them, and all the strength that she has before suddenly leaves her, because she thought that the kings death would be the end of it, so she ahs almost got her female parts back and lost her evilness because she did not think she would need it any more. I think that she is totally unprepared and I think that her compassionate and kind nature has suddenly come back to her and maybe she has suddenly realized what she has done and she knows that she would not normally do it, so she feels regret and guilt. She may also be starting to feel alone as she is shocked that Macbeth did not tell her about this and she may be worried that he does not need her support anymore and he may not be there to support her.
Things are suddenly starting to go very wrong for them, as up until now they have acted as a team. Now Macbeth is starting to act alone and doing things without consulting his wife. Lady Macbeth starts to fell that things are getting out of control. She thought that they would be able to stick together but now we start to see that they are growing apart. Macbeth starts to do things by himself, perhaps he thinks that it will be better and there will be less hassle if he does not tell his wife. First o fall he kills the guards and then orders the deaths of his friend Banquo and Banquo’s son as he believes that they are a threat to him because the witches said that Banquo’s son would be king. This quote shows him planning this violent action; ‘Here shall be done a deed of dreadful note.’ Banquo is successfully killed but his son gets away.
Macbeth and his wife organize a banquet at their castle. This is there first state function as king and queen and it is their first chance to impress their subjects. So it is a big test for them as they have to show people that they are a good king and queen and in control f their kingdom ands that they are a loving and strong couple. However because Macbeth has been acting in secret he now has a long list of problems that obsess him. This scene tells us a, lot about the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This scene marks the point where they separate emotionally and spiritually, they both lose touch with each other and Macbeth is no longer thinking about his marriage. Macbeth starts to go over the brink when he imagines that he is seeing the ghost of his dead friend Banquo. Lady Macbeth acts quickly and tries to support him. She starts to make excuses for his strange behavior. This quote shows this; ‘My Lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth.’ She tries to calm Macbeth down and to keep things normal. This quote shows this; ‘why do you make such faces? When all’s done you look but on a stool.’ She also tries to convince him that he is imagining the ghost because she cannot see it and does not understand. When all else fails she quickly cancels the banquet and makes excuses for her husband, this quote show this; ‘stand not on the order of your going, but go at once.’ This quote shows that she must be really starting to panic and she does not know what else to do other than to get everyone out as quickly as possible. In this scene she uses the same methods to convince him as she did before to make him kill the king, but then she could understand what was worrying him. Now she does not understand because she cannot see the ghost. He is now starting to see the first signs of her growing desperation. Her control seems more desperate and short term. She has always looked for simple, practical solutions to their problems. She needs to know that they can still cope as a couple. At the end of the scene we can clearly see that they are no longer a partnership. Their relationship is no longer the source of Macbeth’s strength, as he starts to look elsewhere for help, he goes back to the witches and puts his faith in the supernatural.
In act 5 we see Lady Macbeth walking and talking in her sleep, she seems very distant and lost. We hear her recall the murder she helped to commit, trying to recall her guilt and searching for a way out. Her sleepwalking may be for many reasons. It could be because she has gone without sleep for so long because of everything that has been going on and now she has almost lost the ability to sleep. She could be tortured by her part in the murder. I think that she could be trying to erase her guilt of the murder. This is a quote from the sleepwalking scene; ‘Out dammed spot! Out I say.’ In this quote it sounds like she is trying to wash the blood from the murder off of her hands. When they had just committed the murder she said that some water would wash it all away. But now it seems as though his blood haunts her and she cannot get it out of her mind. It sounds like the sight of blood has a profound effect on her. It seems like she can’t get the bloody image out of her mind and she needs to be cleansed. She may be sleepwalking and obsessively washing her hands to try and remove any trace of what she has done. She may be sleepwalking because her mind is full of hundreds of thoughts that she can’t control and that drive her mad. This could be manifest in her sleepwalking. I also think that part of the reason for her sleepwalking is because Macbeth has now gone off back to the witches and left her alone. I think that she fells alone and has no-one to talk to about her worries and the isolation is driving her mad and now all her fears of the murder have been brought up and she has to talk to herself in her sleep as there is no-one else to talk to. I also think that she fears what Macbeth will do next, as she knows he is capable of anything and he will not talk to her about it. I think that this is also driving her mad. I think that this scene shows her signs of regret over getting Macbeth to do the murder, I think that she thinks it is all her fault and now she regrets it. It is clear that she shows remorse for everyone involved, this quote shows this; ‘The thane of Fife had a wife where is she now?’ this quote also suggests tat she is acting like a child. As it almost sounds like she is saying a nursery rhyme. This represents child-like innocence and this and this could show that she wishes she had never done it and that she was as innocent as she was when she was a child.
Lady Macbeth kills herself shortly after the sleepwalking scene. Macbeth has now given into the witches’ predictions. When Lady Macbeth dies he reacts strangely, this is what he says when he find out she is dead; ‘she should have died here after: there would have been a time for such a word.’ Macbeth pretends not to hear when he is told, probably because he does not want to believe it. He also seems quiet and not to care, maybe he blames Lady Macbeth for everything that has happened because he thinks that it was because of her that he went through with it and maybe he thinks that everything that has happened led on from that and is all her fault. I think that he is feeling a mixture of emotions and he doesn’t really know how to react, as it is so sudden to him. All of his power and motivation seems to disappear, and he seams to lose the will to be king and even to live. We sense that he fears the end is near. As he repeats Lady Macbeth’s language in her sleepwalking scene it seams to emphasize that he will soon join her in death.
From reading Macbeth I thought that it was quite a strange play. As I thought that it was weird how Lady Macbeth was able to turn into such an evil woman and push her husband into committing a murder at a time when woman were supposed to be weak and powerless. I think that Lady Macbeth was only partly responsible though for Macbeth’s downfall. I think that it was because of her that he done it in the first place, but I think that Macbeth’s ambition then took over and he started to get out of control.
I think that the play can be relevant to us today because we can see how Macbeth’s ambition led to his downfall and we can learn from the mistakes that he made. Like not letting someone push you into doing something you don’t really want to do, not to lose touch from people when working in a team, and not to be over ambitious and let your ambitions take over.
