A play which involves witches would have been popular to most people who were able to see it, this mainly included people in England, Scottland and Wales but more so to the King at that time. King James studied witches and had a deadset belief of their great power, and even wrote a book about them called ‘Demonology’. The King himself believed that he had been
By Daniel Smart 10L2 2
cursed by a witch. He like many people at the time was terrified of what evil he believed they possessed.
The play would have been one of the most popular plays at that time in the whole of England because the subject matter was one that most of the population could understand. William Shakespeare had a great reputation from his previous plays and this would have attracted many people from all over the United Kingdom. The choice of set for the play would have attracted lots of people who were not from England, Scotland. The King himself lived in Scotland for some time and that is also where his family came from, his ancestrial background. One aspect that would have added thrill to the audience of Shakespeares plays would have been going to ‘The Globe Theatre’ which at that time was the newest, largest and grandest theatre in the whole of England. ‘The Globe’ held up to 2500 people. This probably doesn’t seem very large compared with theatres these days. However, to a person of that time the Globe would have seemed gigantic. The Globes reconstruction has increased the number of seats by 500 but this does not include standing up areas. However, there were a lot more negative sides to The Globe then positive sides, for example, most of it was open air so if it rained then you might get wet or worse the play would have to stop. The theatre was lit by daylight, this caused lots of problems such as they couldn’t play at night and the longer plays that went into the late afternoon became harder to see as the day progressed. The theatre also had a thatched roof, which was the cause of a fire. What actually happened was the canon used in the performances was loaded with gunpowder. The canon was fired during a performance it caught the roof and that’s what started all the comotion. Even because of all these reasons the play was still popular because of the shear class of Shakespears plays and preformances. There was a good chance that the King found the play useful, because Shakespeare portrays attempted assassinations and the results in a bad light and people would think twice before trying to kill the King.
Lady Macbeth’s language in the three scenes is stern and commanding. ‘Dierest cruelty’, shows how she wants to be. Some of Lady Macbeth’s speech is done in poem format.'I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry.' This also sounds like a spell (chant). The only other characters using poetic language are the witches. Lady Macbeth being associated with the witches instantly makes the audience cautious as to whether she is one or is being controlled by one. Constantly throughout the play, especially at the beginning, we see Lady Macbeth as a demon-like person, using the word 'devil' and creating a sinister mood. Within the first few words that she says, the words ‘nature’ and ‘humane’ are used. These relate to witches because they control both of these things and they do control Macbeth and his wife with their words of fortune. However, Lady Macbeth also has a somewhat gentle and caring side to her which is shown through her tone change after the murder. 'Give him tending, he brings great news.' The word ‘great’ suggest that she is pleased with her husband’s success. Also the word ‘great’ has another meaning of importance, 'fill me from the crown to the toe.' The word ‘crown’ is used to describe the top of the head but it also reveals through its alternate meaning that she is thinking about being queen. The word 'fire' is used by her to show how the effect of alcohol is increasing her desire, energy levels and making her more awake. We get the impression that she is longing for the throne, through not what she does straight away but what she says, 'burning with desire.' The word 'fire' could imply hell, from a Christian angle, and she has already shown that she is religious. 'Consider it not so deeply' at a basic level means forget about it, forget about the murder of the King. This could be seen as an example of Lady Macbeth’s sympathetic side, but it seems to be demanding and forceful. She does care about her husband and does want the best for him which is one of the reasons she helps him become King. However, she does not want to waste time, and just wants to get on with the plan. She cannot do this while her husband is in shock because he is part of the following plan, and also people will think that he was the one who murdered the King, if he is in trauma. All, or at least most, of the language is hard to understand because it was written
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about four hundred years ago, and language has progressed since then. Gay, for example, meant happy, but now means homosexual. However, reading or listening to the words around a certain word gives you some help as to the meaning. As so many words are different from Shakespeares time to our own, this is not quite so effective. Lady Macbeth’s speech is one of the hardest to understand. ‘Unsex me here’ isn’t a plea for the return of her virginity, but a request to God, who she wants help to change her heart from a woman’s (gentle, weak and timid) to a man’s (tough, strong and intelligent). She is on her own at the beginning of the play, suggesting that she is important, with the whole stage to herself. The audience is focused on her and the letter that she is reading. Her power is shown in the way she taunts Macbeth, saying he is ‘Too full of the milk of human kindness’. This shows how cold Lady Macbeth is, as milk is food for new born children, she is implying Macbeth is too much like a kind, innocent child to murder anyone. This is another method used to spur Macbeth on into killing the King. Her coldness and control is again shown when she begins to plot Duncan’s murder with Macbeth. S she says he should ‘look like the innocent flower but be like the serpent under it’, more advice for the killing of the king, and ‘leave the rest to me’ shows her cool control over the matter. Lady Macbeth also shows a more helpful side, offering help. ‘I may pour my spirits in thine ear’, which although seemingly providing a contrast to her cold hearted plotting earlier, is in fact another way in which she is convincing Macbeth how powerful they are. Her words are sweet to Macbeths ear, but are in fact rooted in evil, and this perhaps shows an ‘innocent flower’ side to lady Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth is a strong-willed and impressive woman and as the audience we notice this straight away. She has the same impact on her husband, who she seems to lead in the relationship. It is plain that she is in control and knows what she wants, the crown, for herself and her husband. One thing which makes the audience dislike her is the immense amount of stress that she causes to her husband. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who can cope with stress, although we find out that he can when he has a personality change. Lady Macbeth causes Macbeth’s change from being a timid, worried and almost gentle person to a power crazed, murderous and heartless character. Lady Macbeth inposes a great deal of responsibality, power and wealth on her husband who by his reaction tells the viewer that he was not ready to cope with all of these things. Throughout the play you could even go as far as saying that it isn’t Macbeths fault at all. He wanted to be king but doesn’t everyone to a certain degree and he wouldn’t have done anything about the prophecy unless his wife had intervened. I feel that Macbeth did not really want to kill King Duncan and I get this impression from Macbeths own words, Act 2 Scene 2- ‘I’ll go no more, I am afraid to think what I have done look on’t again I dare not’. Lady Macbeth does not seem to be expressing any pity or concern for her husband’s worries. At this point it seems as if she is using him to get what she wants, the crown. Act 2 Scene 2-‘Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hands’. This shows a more commanding side to her. Macbeth is not a maliscious, cunning murderer at the start, however, it is hard to say the same thing about Lady Macbeth. He just wants what he has been partly promised by the witches, the crown. Unfortunately someone has already got what he desires, the king. He does not want to kill the king but he’s got no other choice. Though her husband seems to be enjoying the deaths towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth on the other hand seems to be enjoying the planning, murder and lies all the way through until the end. Even though Macbeth and lady Macbeth do a great deal of planning for the murder of the king, mainly Lady Macbeth, Macbeth forgets the plan on numerous occasions. One big error that Macbeth makes is to separate himself from his wife because he thinks he doesn’t need her after all he has the witches to help him. However, to keep the throne he would have needed a child and with a dead wife (suicide) this is impossible. So as you can see the plan was not thought out well, this reasults in him losing the throne which he had lost so much to gain, his king, wife and his friends. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is one of the functions of the play that creates most of the actions, reactions, moods, feelings and attitudes. This is why all
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these things change as both characters personalities change and their feeling towards each other change. Because Macbeth loved and trusted his wife, he was vulnerable to her opinions and suggestions.
All the way through the play we see her as a scheming, murderous, lying, deceitful lady. She is certain that what they are doing is right, is worth it, is worth the death of their King (her and her Macbeths), friends and yet they don’t know it themselves at this point, even their personalities. And for Lady Macbeth her life. When considering a dilema, we usually turn towards those we love for advice. This is the case at the start of all their ambitions, but changes and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not speak to each other towards the end of the play. Lady Macbeth hides her thoughts and plans at the beginning of the play as if behind closed doors. Later however, she lets all her evil and heartlessness out on Macbeth. And finally she becomes a person who wouldn’t seem likely to have ever thought what she did. She goes from a certain, none pondering python to a regretful, disolutioned antilope, from predater to prey. Lady Macbeth could not handle what she thought she could and this results in her commiting suicide. Her manipulative ways get her to a point of no return.
Shakespeare is a well known play write and is famous for his abiltity to create complex but realistic characters. Lady Macbeth is one such character. With a mixed personality and an emotion for each letter of the alphabet, she grabs the readers/audiences attention as soon as she appears on stage.