Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth The play Macbeth is well known for its abundant use of imagery. Imagery is used for numerous reasons such as to convey certain visions to the audience and to give life to the play. One major use of imagery can be seen with the character of Lady Macbeth. Her characterization is strongly dependent on imagery and progresses dramatically with the advancement of the play. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is introduced as a dominant, controlling, heartless wife with an obsessive ambition to achieve kingship for her husband. After she learns of her husband's plan to murder Duncan, she realizes that her husband is not man enough to commit the murder. She believes he "...is too full o' th' milk of human kindness..."(I.v.15), and he would be great except he is "...not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it..."(I.v.17-18). Lady Macbeth is clearly presented as the dominant person in the relationship; which, is a reversal of the stereotypical roles of the time. She is presented as one of the strongest characters featuring in the beginning of play. In Lady Macbeth's famous "unsex me" speech, we are presented with many images of her wanting to be de-womanized, guiltless, and fearless, like a man. She declares "unsex me here, /And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/Of direst cruelty!"(I.v.39-41). She no longer wants her womanly emotions and desires for her compassion to be replaced with cruelty. She reinforces her statement by saying "Come to my woman's breasts, /And take my milk for gall..."(I.v.45-46). This statement insinuates that she wants the milk in her breasts to be replaced with bile. She wants absolutely no connections with womanly compassion; she wants to be as manly as possible. She also presents this in her lines saying "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.vii.54-59). Lady Macbeth is saying that she would rather slaughter her nursing child than to back out of a responsibility she said she would go through with. As the play progresses Lady Macbeth's deterioration can clearly be sensed.
Lady Macbeth takes the role of the dominant partner in the beginning of the play, by acting as the real power behind the throne. For example, it is easily recognized that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are opposite in many ways (Scott 236). He is weak, indecisive, and takes on the traditional female role of the marriage; she is strong, decisive, and takes on the traditional male role. One place in the play where Macbeth’s character is shown is Act I, Scene 5, Lines 15-17. She says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promis’d : yet do I fear thy nature / Is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.” This is just after Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth. It is also important to notice that when Macbeth’s first thoughts of killing Duncan appear, he is scared. After he commits the murder, Macbeth says, “To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself ” ( 2. 2. 72 ). Knowing that he has committed such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and deal with his guilt.
Lady Macbeth is a dominant character as soon as she is introduced into the play. A.C. Bradley wrote about her as “…the most commanding and perhaps the most awe-inspiring figure that Shakespeare drew” from his article titled Lecture X. She became a image known for her ambitious nature. Her thirst for power and disregard for life was shocking to the audience, as to her own husband. The moment she learns of the prophecies, she decides to stand behind Macbeth and see him to the throne. She is immediately set on her quest for more power. As it reads “Glamis thou art, and Cowador, and shalt be/ What thou art promised (1.5.13-14) This moment is crucial because it is the turning point where Lady Macbeth decides that she might have to kill to fulfill her quest for royalty. Macbeth is doubtful about their plan to kill King Duncan; however, she bombards him with comments that question his courage. She goes as far as telling him his love his worth nothing if he refuses, which proves her to be dominant and controlling using his own weakness against him. His love for her. The fact that she belittles his confidence, insults his abilities, and questions his manhood is so manipulative, but also wise because it worked in her favor. She said to him “Screw your courage to the sticking place” (1.7.60). She was confident that her ridicule could gain her control over her husband. There is no doubt that she manipulates her close relationship to Macbeth to get them both the power they covet.
Lady MacBeth is worried that her husband is to weak to do what has to
us to believe that Macbeth is in no way a traitor and that he is brave
The untraditional marriage between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth shows how a woman takes charge of her marriage, showing she is the woman of the house. She is manly and all powerful over her husband. Lady Macbeth proves to be the untraditional woman of Scotland, she differs from the role of a traditional woman because she is not feminine as a woman should be, in fact she wishes she was a man. She tells the spirits to, “ unsex me here”. ( Enotes… unsex me here). This pertains to the theme of gender roles because it demonstrates how Lady Macbeth wishes it was a man. She’s manlier than her husband, that show the untraditional woman. Lady Macbeth feels her husband is to nice, friendly, and full of milk “ worrying her is to full of the milk of human kindness to take Duncan’s throne” ( Gale. Par 3). She worries that Macbeth has cold feet. He’s afraid of the consequence that will follow the murder; She planed the murder herself, because she didn’t believe he could do with out her help. She worries he is to manly to snatch the crown. So Lady Macbeth is manly enough to plan the murder, but wants Macbeth to commit the murder. ...
(1.5.57-58) In this scene Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth lacks the ability to fulfil the witches’ second prophecy. She learns that Duncan is coming to visit her and she calls upon supernatural agents to fill her with cruelty. Lady Macbeth says “Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell…” In this quote she is asking the supernatural agents to fill her with the darkest smoke of hell.
Shakespeare's Macbeth presents more than the simple tale of a murder and revenge. Macbeth wants to be king, and Duncan stands in his way. However, Macbeth hesitates. His wife, Lady Macbeth, must urge him on strongly, like a rider whipping a horse. Macbeth does not want to commit the murder because it creates a conflict in his unconscious mind. Specifically, the act of plunging a knife into Duncan's breast is like the sex act, making the murder a homosexual act for Macbeth. For Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, it is a reversal of the normal sexual roles. She has plays the dominant, male role, forcing her husband and Duncan both to take the submissive, female role. She is much stronger than her husband, and she uses her strength to force him into the act of murder.
Lady Macbeth is a very loving wife to Macbeth and she wants to do anything she can for him to achieve his goals. She just takes it a little too far, and she puts too much pressure on Macbeth to commit crimes that he is not sure he wants to do. After Macbeth sends her a letter about the witches’ premonitions, Lady Macbeth is no longer the sweet innocent lady we expect her to be. She turns into a person who is just as ambitious as her husband and she wants to do whatever it takes to help him get Duncan out of the way. She even goes to the point of calling Macbeth a coward, and mocking his bravery when he fails to complete the job. She is even willing to do it herself (plant the bloody knife with the guard). Lady Macbeth is constantly putting the pressure on Macbeth to do things that he is not sure about. She almost turns into a bully who dares Macbeth to go out and do evil things. She even says in a soliloquy that she wants to be released of all her morals and values so that she can help him commit these crimes.
Lady Macbeth is one of the most compelling characters who challenges the concept of gender roles. Her relationship with Macbeth is atypical, particularly due to the standards of its time. Lady Macbeth becomes the psychologically controlling force over her husband, essentially assuming a masculine role, in order to inspire the aggression needed to fulfil his ambitions. Through her powerful taunts and persuasion, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder the king and to take his throne. She emasculates over her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to prove his manhood, he will perform the acts she wishes. In Act 1, Scene 5
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
In act 1 scene 7 we see that Macbeth is struggling with the moral and
“MacBeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position” (No Fear Shakespeare MacBeth, pg. ix). This quote by Spark Publishing is a part of Lady MacBeth’s overview, it exemplifies her attitude in the beginning of the play. Although she is a strong woman, she succumbs to the stress of her life choices. Even with that being said it is stated that “Lady MacBeth is the strongest character in the play” (Rosenblum, Joseph. "Lady Macbeth"). MacBeth on the other hand, was the opposite of his wife. Even though they both digressed the couple seemed to have switched roles. In the play “MacBeth” by William Shakespeare the relationship between MacBeth and Lady MacBeth changes based on
The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is strong. There is much trust between the two and there is also openness. However, the two butt heads and have opposing views many times. Even so, it is clear that Lady Macbeth is the dominant person in the couple. She is one of the major driving forces of Macbeth. This is shown when they are plotting the murder of Duncan. Macbeth asks her, ?If we should fail?? and she strongly replies, ?We fail! / But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we?ll not fail.? Whenever he is backing down she pushes him forward again. This is where a major flaw of our protagonist comes in. Macbeth cannot escape the trap of listening to his wife. He is subject to her commands and he knows it.
Shakespeare uses many forms of imagery in his plays. Imagery, the art of making images, the products of imagination. In the play Macbeth Shakespeare applies the imagery of clothing, darkness and blood. Each detail in his imagery contains an important symbol of the play. These symbols need to be understood in order to interpret the entire play.
Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the beginning Lady Macbeth was just a normal woman who cared about