Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth asks to be stripped of her femininity

“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here

“spirits” links her to supernatural/demonic forces

“unsex” shows rejection of gender identity → unnatural

Challenges Jacobean beliefs about women’s roles

Aligns her with evil and disorder

Lady Macbeth wants to be completely filled with cruelty

“fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty”

Hyperbole “top-full” suggests total transformation

“direst cruelty” shows desire for extreme violence

Rejects compassion → embraces moral corruption

Lady Macbeth wants to block feelings of guilt

“Make thick my blood”

“thick” suggests slowing or stopping emotion

Blood symbolises both life and guilt → she wants to suppress both

Shows awareness that guilt would stop her

Lady Macbeth wants to block feelings of guilt (2)

“Stop up the access and passage to remorse”

Metaphor of “access”/“passage” suggests guilt is natural and human

She actively tries to shut down conscience

Reinforces her rejection of humanity

Lady Macbeth wants to replace nurturing qualities with cruelty

“Take my milk for gall you murdering ministers”

“milk” vs “gall” → innocence vs bitterness/poison

Violates maternal/feminine expectations

“murdering ministers” links her to hellish forces

Shows complete moral inversion

Lady Macbeth calls on darkness to hide her actions

“Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”

“night” and “hell” → clear evil imagery

“pall” suggests covering up morality

Aligns her with darkness and concealment

Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to deceive others

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

“flower” vs “serpent” → innocence vs hidden evil

Biblical reference (Garden of Eden) → links to sin and temptation

Shows her role as manipulator

Lady Macbeth sees Macbeth as too kind to kill

“Too full o’ the milk of human kindness”

“milk” again = softness/femininity

Criticises compassion as weakness

Reveals her belief that masculinity = ruthlessness

Lady Macbeth equates masculinity with murder

“When you durst do it, then you were a man”

Challenges Macbeth’s identity

Uses gender expectations as a weapon

Shows manipulation through social pressure

Lady Macbeth criticises Macbeth for being weak

“My hands are of your colour, but I would shame to wear a heart so white”

“white” = cowardice

Contrasts physical action vs emotional response

Shows she suppresses guilt (at this stage)

Lady Macbeth thinks guilt is easily removed

“A little water clears us of this deed”

“little” trivialises the crime

Dramatic irony → later proven false

Shows her initial emotional control

Lady Macbeth envies the dead (Duncan)

“’Tis safer to be that which we destroy…”

“safer” suggests insecurity despite power

Shows guilt beginning to affect her

Contrasts earlier confidence

Indicates psychological decline

Lady Macbeth hallucinates blood on her hands

“Out, damned spot!”

“damned” links to hell and eternal punishment

Imperative shows desperation

Guilt is now uncontrollable

Lady Macbeth feels permanently guilty

“Will these hands ne’er be clean?”

Rhetorical question shows hopelessness

Contrasts with “a little water clears us”

Suggests guilt is irreversible

Lady Macbeth feels nothing can remove her guilt

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”

Hyperbole → guilt is overwhelming

“perfumes” symbolise luxury vs moral decay

Shows complete psychological breakdown

Lady Macbeth realises the crime is irreversible

“What’s done cannot be undone”

Short, simple sentence shows finality

Shows acceptance of consequences

Reflects tragic inevitability

key idea about Lady Macbeth being presented as powerful and subversive

Lady Macbeth is presented as a powerful and subversive female figure who rejects Jacobean gender norms to pursue ambition

key idea about Lady Macbeth contributing to Macbeth’s downfall

Lady Macbeth acts as a catalyst to Macbeth’s moral corruption, manipulating his masculinity and exploiting his insecurities

key idea about Lady Macbeth being presented losing strength through guilt

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a tragic figure whose initial strength deteriorates into guilt-induced madness

key idea about Lady Macbeth being a warning to not reject natural order

Ultimately, Lady Macbeth serves as a moral warning that rejecting natural and divine order leads to psychological and spiritual destruction