Allani Mosley
Professor Walter
ENGL 250
Drama Analysis
11/9/17
We all know William Shakespeare to be a profound playwright from his play Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet, and finally Macbeth which appears to be a time in which he goes dark and talks about tragedy. We can see in this particular play he calls into question a wide range of things such as fate vs free will, explores evil, and we gain insight on what it is to have ambition In “Macbeth” Act I, Scene 5 we will explore the instances which led Lady Macbeth to give her soliloquies, then we will break down three performances and analyze how other actors interpret the soliloquies.
In Act one we get to see Lady Macbeth for the first time as well as her first two speeches where she receives news and makes sure Macbeth fulfils what he needs to do in order to become King. The circumstances that have precipitated is the witches come to Lady Macbeth with the prophecies for Macbeth to take the throne and become king, however when shes goes to get more insight and begins to ask question the witches are gone. Lady Macbeth wants her husband to take the throne so she is trying to persuade him to fulfil the duty and not try to back out. The beginning of the speech begins with the witches came to one night and on this night I had the chance to taste success and win the battle. The reason for the witches presence is that they granted me useful information that only a witch could know. After taking in all this news I begin to ask
Throughout the play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth's character drastically changes from being sinister to feeble. Lady Macbeth was an evil, manipulative person whose greed and selfishness were eventually the downfall of her character and well being. During the beginning of "Macbeth", she used her twisted mind to convince her husband to murder, making him believe that it was the only way he could get what he wanted. But as the play developed and the murders started to increase, Lady Macbeth started to question whether or not they were necessary. Sadly, though possibly justifiably, she ended up committing suicide after her constant questioning of the murders drove her to insanity. Lady Macbeth was an unemotional person who only cared about what she could gain. She made her disconcern about other people well known when she said, "How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me I would, while it was smiling in my face Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this." (Act I, Scene VII, Lines 55-60). Lady Macbeth refers that she would have no problem taking the life of her son, if it meant getting what she wanted. The fact that she would even fathom the idea of killing her own child makes her morose and appalling. If only she knew that it would be her who would be taken out of this world so cruelly. Being able to manipulate her husband's mind and the minds of others was another one of Lady Macbeth's baneful traits. After Macbeth killed King Duncan, still reeling from the crime he had committed, he met up with his wife. Once again, she used her manipulative ways to make him think that she felt just as bad as he did. She said, "My hands are of your color, but I shame To wear a heart so white." (Act II, Scene II, Lines 63-64). Lady Macbeth appeared to her husband as if she felt just as guilty about the act of violence as he did, knowing that in reality she didn't care at all. Telling Macbeth that her hands were as bloody as his own was to try to give him comfort that he was not alone in his schemes. But Lady Macbeth had other ideas in mind. She couldn't care less about her husband's thoughts or worries. All she could think about was
Macbeth, written by william shakespeare displays a diverse range of themes and topics throughout the play. These themes are represented through a wide range of characters throughout the dramatic text. One that is strongly underlined throughout the whole play is the theme of the connection between ambition and manipulation and one of the main characters; Lady Macbeth. Throughout the sequences of the play, lady macbeth is depicted as a head-strong ambitious woman who challenges her husband's masculinity in order for him to commit actions in order to gain power.
Known for his tragedy, intrigue, comedy, and romance, Shakespeare extends his boundary of prowess in the play Macbeth. The irony present in the play, the double-meaning of the characters’ actions, and the complexity of setting all contribute to a thrilling story of murder and looking beyond the superficial. Dramatic, situational, and verbal irony greatly contribute to the theme of things are not what they seem in Macbeth text and film. Shakespeare uses the contrast in irony to convey this in the character’s words, actions, and the audience’s awareness. The textual and film evidence fully supports the theme and displays the author’s affluent use of irony.
When Shakespeare first presents Lady Macbeth in the play, we believe that she was an ambitious woman who was driven to get power at all costs. We are irresolute however as to whether she is part of a chain of events in the evilness going around the source. The first words we from her mouth are her husband’s word, which he wrote on his letter, showing us that she was the agent of his thoughts. Women in that period of time, were running a household, producing heirs for their husband and taking care of them, this is not the case for Lady Macbeth as she involves herself in social affairs. Her drive for power is what makes them so successful in their deceitful plans. The play shows us that there is a unique chemistry between two individuals which rare in that period as marriage was usually arranged. She is essentially what keeps the force going as she guides Macbeth and teaches is him how to be manipulative. Even though the crime that they had committed was treason she was simply past the point of caring as she believed she had nothing to lose as she was childless and she had no emotional fulfilment as a woman. She is superfluous and nothing less than reigning alongside Macbeth can feel this hole.
Some actresses see Lady Macbeth as sympathetic to her husband like Sarah Siddons and Kate Fleetwood, feeling sympathy for Macbeth is a decision both actresses made for Lady Macbeth to be relatable and more human, Siddons who portrayed her in the mid-1800s said that she approached her as, “keen to present the character in as attractive a light as possible, so sexually appealing – fair feminine, nay perhaps even fragile” (Sarah Siddons qtd. In Robert Miola, 94). Siddons saw the character of Macbeth as honorable and to have him as a husband only proves Lady Macbeth is very taken with him, having put all of her efforts into seducing such an honorable man. Kate Fleetwood’s own interpretation of Lady Macbeth was very domestic, the societal hostess. In an interview in 2011, Fleetwood who was directed by her husband Rupert Goold in the 2007 version of the play said that, “When Rupert suggested to me about the domestic side of her, that started to ring really big bells for me” (Fleetwood qtd. In Miola, 135). The argument about how Lady Macbeth truly loves her husband and tried to summons the spirits is because she knows that Macbeth is very ambitious, and she needs all the strength she can have to convince him to act out the three witches’ prophecy. This arguement and its solution is very valid, Lady Macbeth only acting out for the benefit of her husband, she wants her husband to be the king of Scotland but it does not mean she wants to queen herself. In an interview, Fleetwood also
William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in the early 1600’s. Macbeth was written during a time of political unrest in the Jacobean era, political context is a strong theme of the play. It seems that politics have not changed much over the centuries. Although politicians may not be murdering each other for their chance at the throne, the majority are corrupt and committing felonies to get to and stay in a position of power. Political corruption today facilitates numerous criminal enterprises. Macbeth’s desire to be King led him to commit the heinous crime of murder. Macbeth shows that although hundreds of years have passed, political malfeasance remains unchanged today. Stewart and Williamson both portray Macbeth in the scene right before
Syfy is what all hit movies or books revolve around this era in time. It over the many years has become the most popular genre of fiction. Aliens, time traveling, and the apocalypse is what society desires in entertainment. Syfy has been around a lot longer than the 21st century though. William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth uses instances of the supernatural to make the main character Macbeth act unorthodoxly, to disquiet and to make him sanguine, by using witches and apparitions.
In Act one, scene five of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” the audience is introduced to Lady Macbeth, and a much more sinister part of the plot begins to arise. At her castle in Dunsinane, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband detailing the witches’ prophecies and she immediately decides that King Duncan must die. Enclosed in this scene is the importance of the relationship of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as well as the themes of gender and duality. These themes are an important part of the scene and are vital to the plot of the play.
Karin Thomson from the Shakespeare Institute in the University of Birmingham states very well in her analysis of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is not so much a criminal as she is a “victim of a pathological mental dissociation upon an unstable daydreaming basis”. Thomson continues to mention that this is “due to the emotional shocks of her past experiences”, which of course is the loss of her child. Lady Macbeth’s mentally unstable state ultimately ends with with a tragic conclusion, death.
Shakespeare's Macbeth speaks of Ambition and Lust for Power throughout the course of the play, as both main characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are overwhelmed by it and fall victim to its darkest depths. Lady Macbeth's famous quote in Act 1 "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" demonstrates the vast extremes that Lady Macbeth is willing to go in order to achieve her ambitions. Her soliloquy gives us the first insight into Lady Macbeth's character, her desires and her strength as she calls to the spirits of evil to strip her of her womanly kindness. "On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap / For in my way it lies" presented to us via Macbeth's aside in Act 1 awards us with our first piece of concrete evidence
In Shakespeare’s work, he often creates different types of female characters to influence the outcome of the plot in his literature. In his play, Macbeth, Shakespeare introduces Lady Macbeth, a femee fatal who is extremely ambitious. Because Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most scandalous characters, the use of her dominating personality shows pure intelligence from Shakespeare and makes Macbeth a memorable piece of literature (Jamieson, Lee 2014). Lady Macbeth, affects the outcome of the play through her appetite for power, ability to influence others, and dependence upon witchcraft. One method Lady Macbeth affects the outcome of the play is through her dependence on witchcraft.
William Shakespeare was the most prolific author of his time, and is accredited to writing nuanced and complex female characters, a feat not seen before his iconic plays. Consequently, his stronger female characters, namely Lady Macbeth, are seen, in the modern era, as feminist role models who challenged the gender roles. However, by analyzing the text and by understanding how women were viewed during the time, Lady Macbeth can be seen as quite the opposite of a feminist character, and instead a message to women pertaining to their supposed place in society as a caretaker. Through analysis of Lady Macbeth’s infamous soliloquy, Shakespeare’s scattering of metaphors pertaining to women, and comparisons of the three witches to Lady Macbeth, a
She begins the play with full strength and a dominating personality. Her ‘unsex me’ speech in act 1 scene 5 is iconic. Through that monologue, we get our first glimpse into the mind of Lady Macbeth. On first reading, it seems more witchlike than anything the three witches say through the play. But it has
Analyse the character of Lady Macbeth in detail, looking closely at her relationship with her husband. To what extent does she influence Macbeth into committing the murder?
In perhaps the most pivotal scene in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s motives are truly revealed in her manipulation of Macbeth to show how humans have a desire for power and once they get a taste of it, they will go through any lengths to have it, no matter the effect on others. Her lust for power is showcased through how she persuades Macbeth by insulting his masculinity and using emotive language to counter his logical reasoning. This section of the play illustrates the tipping point of each character’s morality with Macbeth having second thoughts about the planned murder and Lady Macbeth diving straight in.