Shakespeare’s social commentating is conveyed through the theme of power. This theme is clearly demonstrated through the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. For example, Lady Macbeth’s lust for power can be seen after she reads Macbeth’s letter and says, “Unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse.” In this quote she is asking to be stripped of her womanhood so that she can perform the deed herself. This quote not only reflects Lady Macbeth’s ambition and her desire to step out of her role to attain power, but also effectively links back to gender in the Jacobean era where woman were restricted to the role of a housewife. In addition, Macbeth’s …show more content…
lust for power can be seen after he hears the witches prophecies and says, “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” In this quote Macbeth is ashamed to admit that he has dark desires that will eventually influence him to commit wrong doings. Macbeth continues by saying, “The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done to see.” In this quote, Macbeth is talking about the wrong-doing he will commit and how when his eyes close the, the pain and remorse will disappear; however when he opens his eyes, it will all come back to haunt him. This quote foreshadows not only the danger of Macbeth’s lust for power and how it will eventually result darkness, but also the rise and fall of Macbeth. Another theme that is explored in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is violence. The theme of violence is explored through the characters of Donalbain and Macbeth. For example, after Donalbain hears the news of Duncan’s death he says, “Where we are/There’s daggers in men’s smiles/The near in blood, the nearer bloody.” In this quote, Donalbain explains how their closest friends and relatives could be their worst enemy’s which directly refers to how Macbeth deceived and killed his friend King Duncan. This quote clearly links to the theme of violence as it refers to daggers which serve as symbols of violence and treason. Furthermore, the theme of violence can also be seen through Macbeth when he says “And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood/Which was not so before/ There’s no such thing/ It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes.” In this quote, Macbeth talks about the sight of blood and how it foreshadows the action that he is about to commit. This quote uses blood which is a recurring motif, to symbolise the gruesome violence that all characters in the play experience. A third major theme explored in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is guilty conscience.
The theme of guilt is seen through both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. For example, after Macbeth kills Duncan he says, “ I am in blood/ stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” In this quote Macbeth reflects on the fact that he has now killed King Duncan and is now stuck because the guilt he feels had prevented him from moving forwards and he can no longer change what has happened in the past. At this point Macbeth realises that he made the decision to kill Duncan and now must live with the consequences. This quote expresses Macbeth’s guilty conscience and how he is beginning to feel both regret and remorse. Moreover, Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience can be seen when she begins to hallucinate. During Lady Macbeth’s hallucinations, she begins to see spots of blood on her hands from Duncan’s bloody daggers and begins to yell, “Out, Damned spot! Out I say,” while frantically rubbing her hands clean. These hallucinations become a common occurrence throughout the play and can be seen as a motif for the guilt she now feels. This scene is important as the readers now see Lady Macbeth’s transformation from a dominant confident woman to a woman who is now being ripped apart by her guilty
conscience.
Family kills family for power; people abandon their country out of fear and hatred. Loyalty, In the play it is something that is mentioned but never shown. Starting with the original Thane betraying Scotland. Macbeth is full of disloyalty and betrayal towards those seen as family. Lady Macbeth's relationship with Macbeth, Banquo to Macbeth, and Macbeth to the country. STUFF
Macbeth, while looking at his hands, realizes that although blood can be washed off in a literal context, he will never be able to get rid of the figurative blood on his hands. The fact that Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth also display her guilt signifies that Macbeth is not the only one to sense it, and therefore it is a universal rule, that all those guilty of wrongdoing can never be rid of their remorse, which makes obvious the theme of endless guilt. The fact that blood—a striking image—is used continually throughout to symbolize guilt unifies the play through a significant object and focuses the audience on the symbol (by extension, then, it also focuses the audience on the theme), resulting in them giving more thought to it. With the use of blood as a symbol of guilt, Shakespeare is able to develop his theme that guilt is an endless burden on the wrongdoer.
Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare dramatically shows what can happen when our common gender roles are broken. He shows the power that people can have over others when they aren’t acting the way they’re expected to.
...h from gender roles of common men and women, slowly and subconsciously succumbing to her power over him. Actually, they appear to be the exact opposite. Lady Macbeth is dominant over her husband, and Macbeth evolves from a respected hero to a corrupt and insecure tyrant. Lady Macbeth then continued to contradict the passive behavior of women from this society by being excessively ambitious and having no moral values in making decisions for her husband. Lady Macbeth finally questioned the courage and manliness of Macbeth by coercing him and teasing him into make a decision that he himself was not sure about doing. It can be concluded that many women who watch the play of Macbeth are shocked by Lady Macbeth’s behavior. She was wicked and immoral, ambitious and greedy, yet cleverly persuasive, and stands out in comparison to the subservient women of society.
My essay is about the speech given by Shakespeare’s lady Macbeth, the speech has a mysterious feel about and therefore reflects Lady Macbeths personality perfectly. I imagine that Shakespeare was trying to show Lady Macbeths dark personality through her speaking rather than acting and that is why the speech has a sinister feel about it. Her speech is about the arrival of her victim, Duncan whom she is planning to kill so that she can get what she wants. Shakespeare was a very talented writer who managed to tell us that Lady Macbeth was drunk with power just by using words.
Gender notion and power can be seen through Lady Macbeth’s representation. As Macbeth is being portrayed as emasculated by Lady Macbeth, it can be analysed that Lady Macbeth as challenging the gender normalities in doing so. She is being presented as powerful and above all others and this can be seen in Act 1, Scene 5, where she says “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full… Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers, wherever in your sightless substances you wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry.” She is talking to herself after reading the letter from Macbeth about the witches prophecies and in doing so she is plotting how she can become heir and demanding the spirits to make her more a man. Shakespeare has represented her to be the dominant and power filled character that takes advantage of every opportunity and person she
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the themes of masculinity and natural order, or the lack thereof. This cursed play combines magic, violence, and prophecy, starting with witchcraft and ending with a severed head. It revolves around a couple whose thirst for power causes them to do unnatural things, and plunges their kingdom into ruin. Arguably, the character most responsible for this is Lady Macbeth, as she manipulates Macbeth to kill Duncan. In a kingdom dominated by men, she understands that in order to get power, she must rid herself of all her feminine traits. However, Lady Macbeth’s suppression of her real nature and her disruption of the natural order is what leads to her downfall and eventual suicide.
In Macbeths castle. Lady Macbeths quarters. She stands at the window. She holds a letter a small cross as she ponders through thoughts.
Throughout history women have fought for the same rights of men. In the time of William Shakespeare they were seen in society as weak and vulnerable. They were seen to be good, caring and not as powerful as men. Men were the superior and ruled the land. Shakespeare has taken the stereotypical image of the women of the time and turned it on its head in ‘Macbeth’. Lady Macbeth is shown as a very powerful, strong woman. She has an evil about her that Shakespeare has used to make ‘Macbeth’ a supernatural play. Women were seen to be good and not as powerful as men, in ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth is the dominate character and commands and persuades Macbeth to commit the murders and crimes that he does.
Almost everybody has dealt with somebody who tries to control everything and manipulate the people around them. In William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Macbeth deals with somebody who manipulates him into killing Duncan, the soon to be king. That person is Lady Macbeth, a manipulative but ambitious women. Throughout the whole play, Lady Macbeth holds the most power to influence the actions of Macbeth.
There is evidence in many stories throughout history of supernatural forces or spirits manipulating others. In the story of Macbeth, Macbeth starts his adventure off as a hero and a trusted thane to the king, however, him and his wife, Lady Macbeth, were twisted into instruments of death and destruction as well as corruption. The reasons that this abrupt change occurred in the play can only be described as supernatural.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there are many important and influential soliloquies. One of the most prominent of these soliloquies is Lady Macbeth’s “The raven himself is hoarse...”(Act I, Scene V, Lines 28-44). In the beginning of the book during the rising action, Lady Macbeth gives this soliloquy after a messenger comes to her and tells her that Duncan will be coming to Macbeth’s castle that night. In the soliloquy, Lady Macbeth begins to command spirits to give her the strength and courage in order to kill Duncan, the king of Scotland.
Lastly, Lady Macbeth and I both fold to the pressures that life brings. As much as I have discussed how strong Lady Macbeth and I are, we both show to be vulnerable people. In Act 5, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth delivers the monologue where she says, “I still have the smell of blood on my hand. All the perfumes of Arabia couldn’t make my little hand smell better. Oh, oh, oh! … To bed, to bed! There’s a knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, and give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed!” Her monologue shows that although she has committed all these terrible acts, and she has finally accomplished her goals, she is now vulnerable and scared of what is to come. Lady Macbeth’s first monologue conveys her wish to let all her emotions go so she can enact her treachery upon King Duncan; however, she now shows how remorseful and regretful she is.
The crashing thunder awakens Macbeth and me just on time. “Our plan is almost ready to go into action; you will soon kill Duncan and seize the throne. What could go wrong? Nobody will ever find out.” I arm Macbeth with a dagger and send him to secure his fate.
She is completely consumed by guilt and slowly slips away into madness. In the planning stages of the murder Lady Macbeth felt much more strongly than Macbeth about the necessity to kill Duncan, and now in the aftermath she feels the guilt much more strongly than Macbeth. At one point in the play she is completely lost in her guilt; she sleepwalks around the castle saying "Out, damned spot. Out. She speaks of the bloodstains she now sees for her part in this murder.