Quotation Bank on Lady Macbeth

woawww womean (i might have to cut down some of these quotes bc i have SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT HER)

“unsex me here”

This could refer to two things. One: her wanting to take on more masculine traits in order to get the job done as being a woman is seen as more weak and not being able to do the things necessary to complete the goal. Two: it could refer to evil, as a woman wanting to remove her feminine traits at the time was seen as heresy/malicious/evil spirits. Lady Macbeth is seen as a very “evil” figure, who does things only for her own personal gain and is willing to kill for anything. The additional context that this is her asking evil spirits to do this for her makes sense also as she is being supernatural and communing with the devil. Lady Macbeth is the antithesis to the ideal woman, which sets her up as inherently evil for the time, and this passage (pg 25) truly represents that. She's masculine, not godly, is dominant over her husband, tries to commit treason, communes with evil spirits and is mean. This is probably to make her as unsympathetic as possible and make her seem as horrible and distasteful as possible. She’s not seen as a man, she’s seen as a masculine woman, therefore a failed woman. The antithesis to a woman isn’t a man, who would be respected, it’s a woman who is failing at being a woman, who is seen as having failed gender. Which Lady Macbeth is perceived as doing, so she is perceived as evil.

“no compunctious visitings of nature” / “you wait on nature's mischief”

The “visitings of nature” could refer to feminine nature, so she's asking to not have the typically kind “female” traits (example of her being the antithesis to a woman) showing again how she dislikes her feminine traits. The spirits wait on “nature's mischief”, which could refer to her tampering with her female body and asking to be “unsexed”. This again, sets her up to be hated.

“you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.” (referring to the Weird Sisters)

While this refers to the Weird Sisters, it could also refer to how masculinity (and therefore gender deviance) can be used to present women in a negative light, similar to Lady Macbeth. The weird sisters have beards, and are also a driving force of evil in the play, spirits of the devil. This shows how Lady Macbeth, another evil female character, rejecting her feminine traits could represent how the audience is supposed to hate her, especially since Lady Macbeth communes with spirits.

“Come to my woman's breasts And take my milk for gall” / “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”

She is asking the spirits to take her womens milk (nurturing, shows her place in society) for gall, which is poison. This could also relate to “nature's mischief”, where they are taking her feminine nature (literally, her milk) for poison, switching things out. It could also relate to the second quote, where she talks about nursing or giving milk to a baby (probably her baby). However she says how she would kill this child, possibly her child, which could represent the poison.

“That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valour of my tongue”

She is saying that she wants to essentially manipulate him, and wants the power. She’s also admitting to wanting to control him, showing how she is purely evil. She’s not subtle, because that would go against her character, which is to be as bad as possible.

“Leave all the rest to me”

She wants to be in control, and is telling him to leave everything to her, basically she wants him to be out of the loop so she has all the control /  doesn’t see him as necessary to her plans or smart enough to carry them out. This could also represent the swapping of the gender roles, where she is the man carrying out the tasks and he is her weak submissive sidekick

“Was the hope drunk Wherein you dressed yourself?” / “When you durst do it, then you were a man” / “Like a poor cat i’th’adage?”

In all of these quotes, she has the same goal. Make Macbeth feel as though he’s lesser so that he goes along with it to prove himself. She paints him as a coward, emasculates him, compares him to a cat that is too scared to get what they need to survive. Whether or not she believes this, the placement is clearly made to manipulate Macbeth by making him feel like a bad, weak person. So she knows how to get what she wants, and clearly sees him as the means to an end.

“look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”

This could represent how she is seen as a woman, as she is seen as an innocent flower, but she is the serpent underneath, even asking the spirits to take her breasts for gall (poison) like poisonous snakes. Since she is telling this to Macbeth, her husband, it could represent the opposite gender coding, with him being more like the woman in the relationship. It also represents how she is a very manipulative, lying person who is willing to give Macbeth advice on how to lie and deceive, showing how she could be a corrupting influence

“see our honoured hostess”

This shows how good she is at lying and manipulation, as even Duncan, the king, thinks that she is honourable and kind.

“And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty”

She wants her whole body to be filled with evil, no goodness, no kindness and no nuance. This lets Shakespeare represent her as only evil and not at all sympathetic, and makes the audience (at the time) never sympathise with her

“Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry ‘Hold. hold’.

Back in the day, her not wanting heaven, and by extension God, to not watch her evil deeds makes her even more evil, and she doesn’t want to be stopped at all. She shuns the influence of God, and therefore is satanic and evil.

“Come, you spirits”

This is similar to the first one, she is communing with dark spirits making her purely evil and deserving of what she gets.

“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”

This shows how she is willing to do absolutely anything to get the throne, she is ambitious, she will kill a baby if it means winning something. She's also loyal to Macbeth, however this could be read as loyalty to the cause.