character analysis of lady macbeth

8/13/2019 Character Analysis of Lady Macbeth

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That no compunctious visitings of nature

$hake my fell purpose, nor keep peace beteen

The effect and it# Come to my oman%s breasts,

And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,

&herever in your sightless substances

'ou ait on nature%s mischief# Come, thick night,

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,

That my keen knife see not the ound it makes,

(or heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,

To cry %)old, hold#% (&illiam $hakespeare ! Macbeth, ).*.+

"he summoning of bad spirits can be thought of as a connection of Lady Macbeth's identity to a

itch or at least someone ho is ell versed ith the underorld and vile deeds. Her invocation#

-fill me from the cron to the toe topfull/0f direst cruelty- directly proves her desire to be cruel.

She even ants to get rid of her being as a female# -unse me here-1 -Come to my oman's

breasts, /$nd take my milk for gall.- She ants to be less like a oman and more like a man,

thinking that being a oman means to be kind, compassionate toards people, hich is

obviously the opposite of her plan. *xchanging her milk for gall forms an antithesis+ milk

representing birth, reproduction, life in contrast ith gall hich represents+ decay and death.

Lady Macbeth is even cruel toards her husband.After the murder of an-uo, on the feast that

night, Macbeth is startled by the ghost of an-uo ho has appeared. Macbeth is unable to speak

or react, even resembling madness. ady Macbeth does not care one bit about her husband%s

trauma, trying to set the situation right by telling the guests to ignore the scene.

Lady Macbeth is highly manipulative as ell, toards her husband especially. $lthough she

states that she ants poer for Macbeth, the reader might epect her to be Macbeth's accomplice

standing on e2ual ground ith him, but Lady Macbeth is the true mastermind behind the treason.

When Macbeth arrives home, his ife greets him ith his ne title, already planting the seeds of

murder in his head. He agrees ith the plan to murder the king. Hoever, later before the

murderous stab could be done, Macbeth starts to doubt the rightfulness of the act, remembering

ho the king trusted him. Lady Macbeth uses her manipulative techni2ues to convince him to

continue ith the plan#


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&hat beast as/t, then,

That made you break this enterprise to me0

&hen you durst do it, then you ere a man1

And to be more than hat you ere, you ould

e so much more the man. (or time nor place

Did then adhere, and yet you ould make both.They have made themselves, and that their fitness no

Does unmake you. 2 have given suck, and kno

)o tender /tis to love the babe that milks me.

2 ould, hile it as smiling in my face,

)ave plucked my nipple from his boneless gums

And dashed the brains out, had 2 so sorn as you

)ave done to this. (W. Shakespeare Macbeth, ).3.45*6

7n her speech, Lady Macbeth says to her husband that she ould only accept him as a man if he

does the murder. 7n case he does not she ill consider him a coard. 8or a man ho is respected

so highly by people, ho is a high ranked soldier, a captain, ould definitely find these ords

offensive. %noing these, his spouse ignites the pride ithin him. 9aising the act of murder

upard on the scale of positive values, she boasts ith the fact that if it had been her baby ho

she had been resolved to kill, she ould have done it easily. 7t is not that surprising since she had

-prayed- to the evil spirits to bereave her from any affection toards humans.

7n his play, Shakespeare emphasi:es the fact that masculinity, hich is suggested by ambitionand poer, is not the only thing one needs to achieve his or her goals, but people ho are not

disturbed inside by the result of in;ustice or deeds hich ould compromise one's consciousness.


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Works cited#

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. =e >ork# Washington ?ress, )66@

character analysis of lady macbeth

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