“pour my spirits in thine ear”
Act1
Ambition and Power
Manipulation / Gender and Masculinity
Appearance vs. Reality
the fall of man is a central idea of tragedy, for a religious Jacobean audience as this would be reflective of the archetype, the story of Adam and Eve. Eve was tempted to eat the fruit by Satan in the form on a serpent ( much like LM was tempted by the witches’ suggestion of kingship)
Eve ate the fruit and persuaded Adam to do the same, leading to their fall and exile from Garden of Eden. Similarly, Lady Macbeth lays the groundwork for Macbeth’s downfall, reflecting her manipulative and corrupt nature.
The verb “pour” implies something invasive and manipulative, as Lady Macbeth seeks to fill Macbeth with her own ambition, corrupting his morality.
This links to her claim he is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness,” where “milk,” a symbol of femininity and compassion, is rejected in favour of cruelty
. Her plea to “unsex me here” and “come, you spirits” mirrors the witches’ spell-like language, aligning her with supernatural evil.
By wanting to “stop up the access and passage to remorse,” she treats emotion as weakness, showing her desire to suppress humanity for power. Shakespeare presents her ambition as both unnatural and destructive.
Lady Macbeth defies the Jacobean belief in the Great Chain of Being by rejecting her submissive female role and plotting regicide. In doing so, she mirrors the witches, aligning herself with unnatural and demonic forces that threaten divine order.
“had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it”
Act 2
Appearance vs. Reality
Gender and Masculinity
Guilt and Conscience
Lady Macbeth’s inner conflict exposes her inner cowardice and deep fear of patricide, disrupting her image of ruthless ambition. Although she manipulates Macbeth by performing a “liminal” gender identity — rejecting femininity when it weakens her, and embracing it when it suits her — this moment reveals her vulnerability. Her fear of killing Duncan, not out of morality but because he resembles her father, exposes her emotional fragility and inner conflict. The verb “resembled” implies a superficial likeness rather than emotional connection, suggesting her guilt stems more from psychological projection than genuine compassion. This moment sharply contrasts with her earlier merciless ambition, revealing the complexity and contradictions of her character.
Gender Commentary
Shakespeare subtly challenges the rigidity of Jacobean gender roles, suggesting that traits like strength and weakness are not truly tied to gender, but are fluid and circumstantial. Lady Macbeth’s rejection of femininity to pursue power reveals her ambition, but this hesitation underscores her emotional conflict, suggesting that her ambition is inextricably tied to human weaknesses, which ultimately lead to her tragic downfall.
“a little water clears us the deed”
act 2
ambition
Shakespeare simultaneously employs litotes and euphemism.
The litotes is used to downplay Duncan’s murder and Macbeth’s guilt, it is laced with irony as LM shifts to a melodramatic state of insanity and begins to speak in hyperbole as the guilt takes over.
Exposes her indifference to the murder as a facade. Shakespeare’s use of euphemism hints to this by referring to the murder as a “deed”. LM fails to face up to the reality of it, she must placate it into less heinous words in order to preserve her composure.
The belief that a simple act of washing will absolve the crime contrasts with Lady Macbeth’s eventual breakdown, where guilt becomes impossible to erase. This highlights the inescapability of her actions and the limits of her attempt to maintain control.
This ironic dismissal of guilt is later echoed and subverted by Macbeth’s “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” — where water becomes a symbol of guilt’s permanence, not its removal. The contrast highlights how Lady Macbeth’s attempt to control consequence is ultimately futile, foreshadowing her own psychological collapse.
LM is not in Act 4
- makes her fall from grace more rapidly
- she is classified as a tragic heroine as her beginning status was that of success and power, yet her absence foreshadows her impending doom
- Act 4 exposes the tyranical rule of Macbeth whilst also highlighting how his tyranical rule will be put to an end. Significantly, LM demise is aligned with Macbeth’s demise of honourability and nobility
“out damned spot, out I say!”
Guilt and Conscience
The Supernatural / Madness
Appearance vs. Reality
act 5
- Shakespeare uses the image of the “spot” as a powerful symbol of Lady Macbeth’s irreparable guilt.
- The “spot” can also be interpreted as a mark of possession, which was a common belief in Shakespeare’s time, where madness and guilt were thought to be linked to demonic possession.
- This interpretation is supported by the use of the word “damned,” which invokes religious imagery of hell and eternal damnation.
- The repeated imperative “out” underscores Lady Macbeth’s desperation, trying to force away the guilt that overwhelms her.
- Despite her earlier assertion of control over Macbeth, she is now consumed by the very thing she once believed she could control—her conscience.
- The frantic repetition highlights the deep irony: while she once manipulated others with force, she is now helpless against the psychological consequences of her actions.
- This sleepwalking scene contrasts with Lady Macbeth’s earlier bravado, where she dismissed guilt as a weakness, with her current torment.
- Shakespeare’s use of repetition and desperate language exposes the psychological unraveling of her character, illustrating how guilt and sin can ultimately destroy a person’s mind and soul.
Lady Macbeth enters with a taper
act 5
Guilt and Conscience
The Supernatural / Madness
Light vs. Darkness
- The taper, a small source of light, symbolizes Lady Macbeth’s search for hope and redemption amidst her internal darkness.
- Her guilt and tormented conscience have left her in psychological isolation, and the light represents her desperate desire for solace or salvation from her past actions.
- Religious symbolism:
- In Christian theology, Jesus is described as the “light of the world,” offering spiritual salvation and forgiveness.
- Lady Macbeth’s dependence on the light can be interpreted as her hope for redemption. However, her deep psychological torment and guilt suggest that salvation is unattainable for her, as she is unable to atone for her sins.
- Juxtaposition:
- This moment starkly contrasts with her earlier rejection of guilt and morality, where she manipulated Macbeth without remorse.
- The taper now illuminates her moral and psychological decline, reflecting that she is far from the pure salvation she seeks, instead consumed by the weight of her unspeakable actions.
- The light can also be seen as foreshadowing her downfall, as she is unable to escape the consequences of her actions.
- Just as the taper eventually burns out, Lady Macbeth’s fleeting hope for redemption will also be extinguished, signifying her irreversible descent into madness.
antithesis to her earlier presentation in Act 1 where she calls upon the night and wants darkness: “come thick night”
‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O’
act 5
Guilt and Conscience
Psychological Collapse / Madness
Symbolism of Blood and Hands
- Lady Macbeth’s declaration reveals her acknowledgment of the depth of her guilt. Her desperate attempt to clean imaginary blood from her hands symbolizes her belief that she cannot remove or atone for the sin of Duncan’s murder.
Symbolism of the perfumes:- The reference to “all the perfumes of Arabia” underscores the futility of trying to wash away her moral corruption. The exotic and overwhelming scents represent an unreachable escape from her overwhelming guilt, showing how no external comfort can soothe the internal chaos she now faces.
- The repeated “O, O, O” signals Lady Macbeth’s mental disintegration. This fragmented speech contrasts sharply with her earlier, assertive command in Act 1, where she confidently calls on spirits.
- The shift from blank verse (used in earlier acts to show control and authority) to prose here signifies her loss of mental control and highlights the depth of her psychological collapse.
*Contrast to earlier authority: - Earlier in the play, Lady Macbeth uses blank verse to assert her authority, but here she is reduced to unstructured prose. This represents her descent into madness, where she is no longer the manipulative, powerful figure she once was, but is instead consumed by guilt and despair.
Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it
Appearance vs. Reality
Deception and Manipulation
Evil and Ambition
- characterises Macbeth as a marionette of evil influence, he echos both the witches in their lexis and his wife
- the imagery of the “innocent flower” highlights the righteousness, but also the vulnerability, of honest human behaviour.
-Lady Macbeth assumes the role of the fourth witch within the play employing cunning schemes to manipulate Macbeth significantly. both the witches and Lady Macbeth embody the central theme of appearance versus reality skilfully through utilsing deceptive practices to manoeuvre acquiring power over Macbeth
Biblical allusion: lady Macbeth incorporate a biblical illusion by using the term serpent drawing parallels to genesis narrative depicting the fall of mankind. This deliberate choice of diction serves to underscore her belief in the effectiveness of deception akin to the serpent’s manipulation of Adam and Eve.
Lady Macbeth adeptly highlights the effectiveness of deception when cloaked in an innocent flower like facade emphasising the ease which such deceit can be orchestrated, especially when temptation and pride are at play
-The imperative verb ‘look’ highlights her power over her husband as she gives him commands.
-The enjambment and the turning point of the word ‘but’ highlight her deliberate slyness and the contrast between the outward appearance and the inner reality.
- Shakespeare shows her as manipulative and sinful, deliberately playing on contemporary perceptions of women.
Dashed the brains out
Act 1
Violence
Plosive on “dash’d’: The plosive on “dash’d” creates a brutal sound, mirroring her brutal rejection of motherly instincts. Her proclivity (tendency) for violence takes precedence over motherhood, leading to her unapologetic willingness to extinguish human life in the relentless pursuit of unchecked violent ambition.
* Juxtaposition: The deliberate contrast between the forceful verb “dash’d” and the delicate nature of “brains” serves as a poignant symbol reflecting Lady Macbeth’s character. Despite her seemingly fragile exterior, she harbours a strong desire to instigate violence and chaos.
* Notably, her choice of targeting the vulnerable “brains” of infants signifies a recognition of both the paramount importance and extreme fragility of human existence. Yet this is ironic, as the very organ she seeks to disrupt in her unborn child - the seat of morality and reason - becomes the locus of her own downfall.
