She would go as far as to ask evil to fill her soul with hate and take her remorse in order to gain power. Also, when Macbeth first contemplates murdering Duncan before his
Shakespeare’s objective is to show how the guilt Is driving her insane. Shakespeare also does this with the semantic field of death; “death and blood” are used through her sleep-walk. This implies that her guilt of killing Duncan is driving her insane this technique is used by Shakespeare to portray Lady Macbeth’s broken state of mind which makes her restless. In Act 2 Scene 2, the witches say "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,” this is exactly what has happened to Lady Macbeth as she is unable to sleep.
Most Important Quotes Quote 1 Line numbers: Act 1 Scene 5 40-41 First five words: “Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” Context: This is said by Lady Macbeth, before any of the murders have taken place. It happens rather early in the play. Significance: Lady Macbeth, upon hearing that King Duncan is to stay the night in her castle, wants to kill him. She wants the strength to commit the murder. It is an odd quote because she is calling on the spirits to make her into more of a man and give her the power to do terrible things.
In many scenes, violence is readily available, in which it is normally committed or illustrated by the protagonist, Macbeth. Shakespeare takes the violence and relates it to manliness. Lady Macbeth, who, behind public eyes, is a very savage, threatening force, wants to remove her womanhood in order to commit tyrant crime herself: “The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts / And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers” (Shakespeare, I.5.53). Lady Macbeth is calling upon the gods to “unsex” her so she can proceed and help Macbeth commit the murder of Duncan.
A central motif in Macbeth is the darkness brought on by night and how it conceals and reveals aspects of the characters personalities. In one example, Lady Macbeth reveals herself while lamenting over the future murder of Duncan. She calls for the “thick night” to cover her regrets so they won’t even be hinted to God. Since she believes she is completely invisible, Lady Macbeth is able to ask for the ability to be filled with the “direst cruelty.” Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has to face the battle between her own ambitions and the constraints placed upon her as a woman and that of the wife of Macbeth. She uses her womanhood to portray her innocence but it is then exposed by her soliloquy that she wishes the spirits “unsex” her, leaving Lady Macbeth only with mortal thoughts.
(88-89) In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson explains the stand taken by Macbeth in his relationship with fate: He pits himself no merely against the threat of hell but also against the enmity of "Fate" (as represented in the prophecies of the Weird Sisters): come, Fate, into the list, And champion me to th' utterance. He brags to his wife: But let the frame of tings disjoint, both the worlds suffer, Ere we will eat our meal in fear [. . .]. (70-71) In Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack explains that the witches are associated with fate: Except in one phrase (I.3.6) and in the stage directions, the play always refers to the witches as weyard - or weyward - sisters.
At the hour Duncan was killed Lady Macbeth heard the sound of the owl and loved it because it symbolized the death of Duncan. The 3 witches are three characters that are seen throughout the play. They start off the play chanting and telling Macbeth his prophecies and what will soon happen to him. Their significance in the play is to test Macbeth’s ambition. They somewhat protect Macbeth and make sure he knows everything.
When Macbeth returns later in the scene, she immediately pounces onto him and tries to persuade him to murder the King and she says it in a very manipulative way. When Lady Macbeth says: ‘Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it’ She uses a recurring theme of appearance versus reality. This shows that she is a two-faced character and tries to persuade Macbeth to be the same. The use of language suggests that she is very demanding and will not stop at anything to get what she wants. In this scene we’ve found that she is a domineering and two-faced character through the phrase: ‘Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it’.
The play is about Macbeth so why do we have this fascination with Lady Macbeth, I shall delve in to the deep character that is Lady Macbeth and find out if she is a fiend like queen. I can see why most people would believe that Lady Macbeth is presented as a fiend like queen, when she gets Macbeths letter as she immediately begins to plot the murder of Duncan this is out of her selfish desire to bear the name “queen” that drives her she comes over fiend like by using violent language, emotional blackmail, insults his masculinity and attacks his weaknesses to help commit the murder. Lady Macbeth takes full charge of Macbeth’s actions and seems to dominate him. Lady Macbeth calls upon the demons “Come, you spirits” this shows her calling upon evil spirits to help her to commit the deed of killing Duncan also the notion that lady Macbeth is possessed by evil spirits could explain the unnatural darkness, most fiend like. Lady Macbeths plots against killing king Duncan which is God’s appointed monarch, so by murdering him she is going against God which makes her more fiend like.
“Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out”. This takes her femininity away and portrays her as a cold-hearted character who is not only willing to commit murder, but also able to persuade her husband into going against what he believes in. As well as this, the violent imagery in this quote is very shocking and gives a gothic element to Act One Scene Seven. It also shows us how quickly Lady Macbeth