Macbeth Coursework

Coursework Title: Compare how Shakespeare uses language and dramatic devices to show the change in character of Lady Macbeth over the course of the play (Act 1, Scene 5; Act 1 Scene 7; Act Scene 2; and Act 5 Scene 1)?

Shakespeare wrote Macbeth specifically for King James I. The king was a large supporter of the theatre, and Shakespeare's company even became known as "The King's Men." King James I was king of Scotland and eventually became King of England; his ancestry could be traced back to Banquo. When Shakespeare wrote the play, he included several elements that would have appealed to the king: witchcraft and ancestry. First, King James was previously interested in demonology, including witchcraft. Several witches had been foiled in their attempt to place a curse on James when he was king of Scotland. Macbeth is written in the third person objective. Besides that, characters do not speak directly to the audience but often give soliloquies. Through the dialogues of the characters, Shakespeare’s ideas of fate and free will can be seen. Focus generally follows Macbeth and sometimes other characters that affect Macbeth. That being said, the witches occasionally enter the play as a means of foreshadow.

To begin with, the main theme that dominates Macbeth is ambition. Macbeth’s ambition to become the king of Scotland is based on the witches' prophecies in Act1 Sc.3. Lady Macbeth's more egocentric ambition urges Macbeth to the path of crime. Perhaps the most obvious subject or theme in Macbeth is ambition and we see this with both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They are tempted by the idea that Macbeth will become king. Macbeth is not sure what to do but his wife is ruthless in getting what she wants; she views her husband as a coward and appears ready to do anything. Ambition leads to evil - it makes Macbeth stronger and more determined, but then destroys his wife, consequently she goes demented. Ambition eventually kills him as well; becoming a tyrant and so loses the support of his friends.

Besides that, the play is set in the 17th century, Scotland. The Globe theatre was for the people of Elizabethan London. Audiences attracted people from all classes, the upper class nobility and the lower class commoners. Histories, Tragedies and Comedies were written by the greatest playwright of them all, William Shakespeare. The men in the family dominated the Elizabethan family life for women. Elizabethan women were seen as inferior to men. They were subservient to the men in the family all of their lives and expected to obey them in all aspects of their life. Elizabethan women were expected to marry to increase the wealth and position of the family and then to produce children - preferably male heirs. There were no careers for women as there were no schools for girls, so the majority were illiterate. Although society expected women to be submissive to their husbands, Shakespeare not only subverts this ides of complete submission, but also decisively challenges her husband’s masculinity. She seeks to restrain her femininity, her female characteristics in order to become more masculine.

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Lady Macbeth is the strongest female character in all of Shakespeare’s works. In order to emphasize this, Shakespeare introduces this character to the audience In Act 1 scene 5, by having her on the stage alone. She is quite prepared to be tempted by the devil, and will drive her husband to commit evil. She knows that she has to push her husband in order for him to achieve greatness. She more than makes up for Macbeth’s weakness and realizes that she must “pour my spirits in thine ear”. This is a very significant line of the play where Lady Macbeth goads Macbeth on to the murder he must commit, which becomes increasingly darker scene by scene. This is emphasized by delving deep into the character of Lady Macbeth, which is summed up with the following quotation “Unsex me here make thick my blood, Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse, Shake my fell purpose” Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits to take away her femininity, to thicken her blood and take away from her the ability to weep. She asks for these evil spirits to suckle her and for the night to hide her actions in a blanket of darkness. This is so that if heaven cries to her to hold, she will not hear it. Lady Macbeth is referring to her Feminine nature; she wants freedom from compassion so that no compunctions of conscience will interfere with the carrying out of her purpose. “Come to my women’s breast/and take my milk for gall” she asserts, reinforcing the fact that she is trading her traditional feminine role as mother and nurturer in exchange for a power which accords with the violent, masculine world of which her husband is a part. Here, there is no place for vulnerability. Lady Macbeth is expected to be a mother and a hostess, traditional female roles. She is responsible for preparing for Duncan's arrival, and she is the one who greets and welcomes him. And we know motherhood is valuable to the Elizabethans for instance she wants to shock Macbeth into going ahead with the assassination, she says that she would tear a child from her breast and throw him against rocks if she had promised as Macbeth promised. But motherhood is not important to Lady Macbeth--ambition motivates her, and power is her goal. One the contrary, Lady Macbeth cannot possess legitimate power of her own. She cannot hold office. She must live vicariously through her husband. Her only means of power is to influence her husband. And that's not enough for her. Presumably, that makes her different from at least the stereotypical woman in Shakespeare's day.

In Act 1 Scene 7, the third face of Lady Macbeth we see is a cunning and possessive wife who takes control and plans the murder of Duncan. She appears to hold much power and strength over her husband and encourages him to murder King Duncan. Lady Macbeth plays a major role in influencing her husband to take the path that he does. She is the catalyst that effectively unleashes Macbeth’s true side of evil. Throughout the play we can see that she has a strong influence on him and is a primary cause for increasing Macbeth’s ambition. Lady Macbeth’s words to her husband insisting e.g. stating “screw your courage to the sticking place…And we’ll not fail” as well as her many powerful soliloquies "Unsex me here" show us her great desire to become Queen and hence urge Macbeth to murder Duncan. However, in no way can Lady Macbeth be seen as the sole influence on Macbeth. Although Macbeth appears to be greatly subordinate to his wife in terms of levels of evil, he is still an extremely ambitious and powerful character. She helps him greatly, throughout the play to get him through various problems. In the earlier acts of the play we can see that Lady Macbeth’s words mean a lot to her husband, giving the impression that she is definitely the dominant figure in the relationship. Lady Macbeth has a strong influence on her husband and is a sole reason why Macbeth acts as he did.

Lady Macbeth is unsure whether Macbeth is too kind and lacks the evil he needs to match his ambition. She states “I fear…is too full’o the milk of human kindness, to catch the nearest way,” For this reason, she influences him greatly into the prospect of murdering the king. The thought of becoming Queen pushes her and causes her to act outrageously. Macbeth is slightly doubtful of her plan to kill the King, however Lady Macbeth subtly bombards him with comments that question his courage and by saying that his love is worth nothing if he refuses to go through with the plan. She says “screw your courage to the sticking-place,” to make him more evil and confident about his actions. She used powerful expressions to condemn Macbeth of lack of commitment even going to the extent of daring to kill her own baby for it, “And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done this” if such a situation ever arose. Lady Macbeth’s confident reassurances and flatteries prove to Macbeth that there is no chance of them failing. Frequent uses of powerful rhetorical questions, such as “we fail?” etc., enhances the effect of flattery and taunting used by Lady Macbeth. The character of Lady Macbeth seems the complete opposite of what an Elizabethan woman should encompass. Any women of the Elizabethan time would have been utterly overwhelmed by her masculinity and determination to take control. Women in this time were inferior to men and would not dream to have a dominant role in their marriage. However a modern audience would not be startled by Lady Macbeth’s actions, as more women are taking on a more predominant role in society. So if anything the audience should be able to relate to Lady Macbeth and her hunger for power. In Act 1 Scene 7 Shakespeare structures the text so Lady Macbeth speaks more especially when she begins to get infuriated, this shows she has more control in their marriage and that theres a hierarchy in their marriage. The fact that in this scene Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are the only two characters performing suggests Shakespeare wants the audience to focus on the relationship between the two and to realise that Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth in doing as she says.

Lady Macbeth’s character at the beginning of the play is drastically different to her character presented in her final scene; she is hardly recognisable as the same person. The play accurately depicts the progression of Lady Macbeth from a dominating, confident, ruthless killer, to a weak, mentally unstable, dying woman. We see the guilt has taken over her as she sleepwalks, tormented by what she and Macbeth have done together and what she knows her husband is responsible for. To the extent that she commits suicide. Previously Lady Macbeth had emphasized how she would tear an infant from her breast and kill it in order to get what she wants. This image presents Lady Macbeth as strong and domineering. In Act 2 Scene 2, While Macbeth shows remorse for what he's performed “I am afraid to think what I have done” immediately, Lady Macbeth shows none and simply gives him instructions on how to approach the situation “Consider it not so deeply”. There seems to be a gender role reversal for the couple; Macbeth seems feminine in his worrying and outward showing of guilt while Lady Macbeth remains detached and cool only showing guilt subconsciously by sleepwalking. This scene does not place emphasis on the action. The play is about murder yet the reader does not witness the most important murder. Instead Shakespeare focuses on the emotional and psychological aspects of committing murder. Lady Macbeth comes up with the idea for murdering Duncan while reading the letter her husband has sent her regarding the witches' prophecy. From the moment Macbeth returns home, she is in his ear convincing him of the necessity of the deed. She plans it and puts the plan in action. She even says that had Duncan not resembled her own father, she would have done it herself. She may not have carried out the deed but she was the brains behind it.

Lady Macbeth's language in Act 5 Scene 1 betrays her troubled mind in many ways. Her speech in previous acts has been eloquent and smooth. Her grammar is complex but the rhythm of her speech remains smooth and flowing, “The thane of fife had a wife” in the iambic pentameter used by noble characters in Shakespearean plays. There is stark contrast when she talks in her sleep in Act 5. This speech, Lady Macbeth's language is choppy, jumping from idea to other “Out, damned spot!…Hell is murky” as her state of mind changes. Her sentences are short and unpolished, reflecting a mind too disturbed to speak eloquently. Lady Macbeth's dissolution is swift. As Macbeth's power grows, indeed, Lady Macbeth's has decreased. She began the play as a remorseless, influential voice capable of sweet-talking Duncan and of making Macbeth do her bidding.

She has dwindled to a mumbling sleepwalker, “To bed, to bed, to bed” capable only of a mad and rambling speech. This has a huge contrast to Act 1 Scene 7 where she had power over Macbeth and talked him into killing Duncan. Whereas even the relatively unimportant Lady Macduff has a stirring death scene, Lady Macbeth dies offstage. This shows that at that stag her character was no of importance to have died on stage, which emphasizes her downfall. Act 1, sc. 5, that Lady Macbeth became aware of the witches' prophecies for her husband. As soon as she read his account of his encounter with the witches, she became determined that Macbeth would become king. It was then that she summoned the spirits to "...fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! " and to make her blood "thick" so that she'd have whatever it would take to make sure her husband became king. The play comes full-circle now, as Lady Macbeth continues to fold and unfold a letter in her state of madness. The spirits did indeed give her the will to plan a murder but she lacked the ability to stave off the guilt.

The stage is set with a black background to create an eerie atmosphere for the viewers. Everyone is dressed in black, which creates the impression of evil and darkness being present in this scene. With the exception, of course, of the nun (gentlewoman) who has white on the headpiece of her Abbott hinting that she has goodness in her. This completely contrasts with Lady Macbeth who is dressed completely in black suggesting that evil has completely overcome her. This may be because of the evil deed of killing Duncan who was a king. In the Shakespearean times it was a sin to kill a king as they were seen as godly representatives on earth, so not only has she committed a crime against a person but a crime against god.

Lady Macbeth is the true villain by her contraceptive ways of body language and talk. She thoroughly represents her inner villain with several acts of unprecedented deeds. Her femininity is portrayed as the antithesis of what being an ideal woman and wife is about. Instead of being a graceful, elegant female faithful to the wishes and commands of her husband, Lady Macbeth’s character contradicts that kind of feminine role. She represents a different side of the characteristics of femininity. Throughout the play, Shakespeare employs various gender-related metaphors to
portray women as kind and loving by nature. One of the symbols he uses is milk, a
substance we normally associate with femininity. As we read Macbeth, we notice that
every time the word "milk" appears, Shakespeare equates it with virtuous qualities such as tenderness and concord. As one the most complex characters in the play, she is portrayed as a dark, manipulative woman, able to cast a wicked and harrowing spell over Macbeth. Her cunning and inner ruthlessness has driven her to utter madness and only a true villain would do something like this. The characteristics of her personality become obvious with her death, leaving the audience free to form various opinions about her. During the course of the play, we see the disintegration of Lady Macbeth's solid character, through her actions with her husband, her own opinions of first-degree murder, and finally watching her try to cope with obvious guilt. Her downfall is complete when she kills herself, appearing to be a case of severe mental anguish.

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