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Lady Macbeth (Witches (There are certain parallels drawn between LM and…
Lady Macbeth
Witches
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Both powerful, ambitious women
Both unnatural women: You should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so
LM: Unsex me here
Both have an influence over Macbeth; witches plant the idea in his head, and LM encourages and fosters it
Parallels between their language: LM wants spirits / that tend on mortal thoughts, (to) unsex me here - shows her seeking help from supernatural such as witches
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As a woman
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At the time, women were supposed to be submissive and meek - Lady Macbeth is the complete opposite
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Could say that she is family orientated - her actions aren't selfish, they are to help and protect Macbeth
Her being a powerful, but unnatural woman shows how women were not supposed to be powerful or ambitious
She has a set idea of feminine qualities: stop up the access and passage to remorse - shows she views these as feminine qualities and therefore weaknesses - she wants rid of them
Guilt
In the beginning, she wishes not to feel guilt: no compunctious visitings / shake my fell purpose
She does not immediately feel the guilt as Macbeth does - she seems rather unaffected in the immediate aftermath of Duncan's death
However, it makes sense that as she felt ambition more strongly than Macbeth in the beginning, so should she also feel the eventual guilt more strongly
Shakespeare shows that everyone is subject to guilt - even those who think themselves too 'hard' for it
Her guilt is symbolised by blood, which she feels she cannot wash off: Here's the smell of blood still; all the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this / little hand
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Her feeling guilt for Macduff's family and Banquo's murders show her complete mental deterioration; she had no hand in them at all
Persuasive
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I would, while it was smiling in my face / Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, / and dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you / have done to this
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear - mirrors a different Shakespearean character who was killed by someone pouring poison in his ear - shows how her ideas will be like poison to him and cause his downfall
She questions his masculinity, saying When you durst do it, then you were a man - plays on his emotions
Control
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Perhaps shows her to be superior in the relationship - always in control of the situation, especially when Macbeth isn't
After Duncan's murder she tries to remain the voice of reason, and tells him to wash this filthy witness from your hand and when he refuses to go back to Duncan's room, she takes it upon herself: Give me the daggers
Demise
By the end of the play, she meets a rather tragic demise
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She is unmourned even by her husband, who laments she should have died hereafter
Her Act V Scene 1 sleepwalking scene is written almost entirely in prose - the form usually used for lower status characters, compared to her previous blank verse - Shows how her language is breaking down as her mind disintegrates and she loses her power
Ambition
In the beginning, she is perhaps more ambitious than Macbeth
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Light and dark
In the beginning, she wants darkness, to be able to hide the evil acts she wants to commit: come, thick night
By the end, she wants light: she has light by her / continually: 'tis her command
This is perhaps because she wants to escape the darkness of her deeds and her soul
Shows the change in her character - she wanted to be this ruthless and cruel person, but this has been to her detriment and she still hasn't achieved it anyway
Sympathy
Whereas the audience are made to feel sympathy for Macbeth due to his noble and dignified end, no sympathy is really orchestrated for Lady Macbeth
Defo not to the contemporary audience, but perhaps now we sympathise with her slightly due to her poor mental state
Shows the gender inequality - an evil woman should not be sympathised with, but an evil man should
Use of character
Shakespeare perhaps uses her to show how women have the capabilities of ambition and cruelty like men do, but due to social restraints, lack the freedom to pursue these ambitions on their own
Cunning and deceptive
She is shown to be very two faced when being a gracious host to Duncan whilst plotting his murder: All our service / In every point twice done and then done double
Relationship
The deterioration of her relationship with Macbeth can be seen as her own fault - she pushed him to commit the murder of Duncan, which caused them to drift apart
Order
Her madness and weakness by the end of the play can be seen as part of the restoration of order / justice - the woman has become weak again, as she should