Lady Macbeth Quotes

stupid female dog

"Come, you spirits... unsex me here” (The Supernatural/Gender Roles/Ambition)

• Use of metaphor.

• Use of imperative verb shows her rejection towards Jacobean society’s expectations for femineity in exchange for power. Emasculating herself.

“When you durst do it, then you were a man.” (Gender Roles)

• Attacking masculinity

• Challenging Macbeth on the concept of masculinity.

• Masculinity = aggression and violence.

• Conditional Statement

"Out, damned spot! out, I say!” (Guilt)

• Immense guilt.

• Her sin is unforgivable.

• Great Hamartia.

“A little water clear us of this deed.”

• Contrast between beginning and ending, shows how although they try to hide their deed, they cannot remove the guilt behind their actions.

• This led to Lady Macbeth’s hamartia. (Out damned spot, out I say.)

“The false face must hide what the false heart that doth know.” (Appearance Vs. Reality)

• Repetition of false.

• This technique shows how they easily hide their guilt intentions behind their “face”, Shakespeare shows how characters can conceal their true motives behind a mask of loyalty.

“Be the innocent flower, be the serpent under’t.” (Appearance Vs. Reality/Ambition)

• It is an allusion to the Gunpowder’s Plot that happened in 1605.

• The imperative verb suggests how Macbeth can easily fall into oppression by his wife due to her controlling nature, which led him to follow his ambitious desires.

• To his perspective, he had no choice, but in reality he did.