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Lady Macbeth - Coggle Diagram
Lady Macbeth
Gender
Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth 'unsex me here!'
Lady Macbeth uses the imperative 'unsex' to command the supernatural to do her bidding, demonstrating her unusual power as a woman, unlike that of the typical woman in Jacobean society.
Shakespeare uses this to show the dangers of a woman leaving her rightful place in society and taking charge of a relationship
These risks are punished later in the play when Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and eventually dies, after having reformed to a more typical role of a woman in Jacobean society
Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth 'take my milk for gall'
Lady Macbeth uses the imperative 'take' to command the supernatural to make her into a strong masculine figure, although she wishes for 'gall' which has connotations of a cowardly murder
Shakespeare does this to show that although Lady Macbeth begins the play as more masculine than Macbeth, her desires aren't to be the most masculine warrior, instead she chooses to keep a weaker side.
This weakness results in eventual insanity as she has nightmares which could be viewed as a womanly weakness that Macbeth is not susceptible to
Ambition
Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth 'too full o' the milk of human kindness'
'Milk' has connotations of purity and innocence, which Lady Macbeth is trying to corrupt with ambition
Shakespeare uses this to further emphasize the innocence of Macbeth in comparison to the Lady Macbeth, which allows the audience to further scrutinise the morality of her actions as she corrupts Macbeth and leads him to complete immoral actions
This foreshadows later in the play when Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth too ambitious, and he kills Duncan, then surpasses Lady Macbeth's ambition and starts killing others too
Power
Act 2 Scene 2 - Lady Macbeth 'Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers'
The exclamation combined with the imperative of 'give' demonstrates Lady Macbeth's power over her husband, as she is the one who is giving him the orders, which is a gender role reversal to the expected from the time period
Shakespeare uses this to emphasise the effeminate nature of Macbeth, given that Lady Macbeth is having to take over his role as the man of the family as he is unable to properly complete the jobs assigned to him
This foreshadows Macbeth's inability to properly complete the role of King when it is assigned to him after Duncan's death, instead of caring for his people he goes around killing them for fear of being killed by someone
Manipulation
Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth 'look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under't'
The imagery of flowers and serpents is a biblical illusion to the Garden of Eden, showing Lady Macbeth's desire to be like the devil and persuade people such as Macbeth to do evil actions they wouldn't otherwise do
Shakespeare includes this to show the dangers of those with a Machiavellian nature not being true to who they say they are and committing evil sins under the guise of loyalty
This foreshadows the dual nature of the Macbeth's after they have killed Duncan, putting on a brave face for everyone else, but secretly falling apart in private
Control
Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth 'Leave all the rest to me'
The imperative 'leave' in the monosyllabic sentence demonstrates Lady Macbeth's power and complete control over the planning of the murder of Duncan. She is ordering around Macbeth, which goes against the gender roles of the time period and shows here control over him
Shakespeare included this to demonstrate the masculine power that is held by Lady Macbeth, ensuring that she gets what she wants, and portraying her as the dominant member of the Macbeth household
This then changes later in the play when Lady Macbeth is weakened by her sleep walking and reverts to a more typical woman of the period, demonstrating the dangers of regicide