Macbeth Discussion Questions

Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is a character who suffers greatly in because of her human weakness, which is her vaulting ambition. This ambition is not for her, but for her husband. This woman, who seemed so in control at the beginning of the okay, only cared for her husband and his success, later becomes so consumed with guilt and remorse that it results in her tragic death. Through the discussion of characterisation and lkey scenes, I shall reveal that Lady Macbeth’s human flaw is  not only a major contributor to the ruthlessness of her husband but creates a huge influence in how the play unfolds.

Lady Macbeth, a leading character in William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Macbeth, progresses throughout the play from a savage and heartless creature to a delicate and fragile woman, having no regard for mortality.

In Act 1, Shakespeare wrote Macbeth with admired masculine qualities countered with Lady Macbeth criticising his idiosyncrasies. Lady Macbeth’s definition of masculinity is disparate to others’. In Scene 2, the captain labels Macbeth “brave”; a venerated quality

The guilt over being a party to murder drives Lady Macbeth to madness and eventually suicide. Furthermore, the use of Lady Macbeth in this way may be a reference to the Book of Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve. Macbeth is inspired to murder by his wife in the same way Eve convinced Adam to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Including the three witches and the goddess Hecate all the figures in the play who manipulate Macbeth are female. Perhaps this is reference to femininity as the origin of sin.

The three witches wait on the heath for their predestined meeting with Macbeth. The first witch gives an account of what she has been

16. Describe Macbeth’s attitude as the scene ends. He is less confident than he was previously

Through this violent speech, Lady Macbeth takes on a violent and masculine role. At first, the babe is depicted as “smiling” and has “boneless gums.” It is innocent of the vice in the world and its forthcoming fate, and vulnerable to any external harm. It “symbolizes pity, and the necessity for pity.” (Muir 235) It depends totally on its mother. Lady

Lady Macbeth is a complex and intriguing character in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. She is a difficult character to embody as her personality seems split between two sides, one that is pure evil, sly and conniving in contrast to her softer, vulnerable, weak and feminine side. In the play we see her in these two main ways. The reader may feel a certain animosity towards Lady Macbeth throughout the first few acts as her personality appears more and more distasteful, in spite of this towards the end she has a serious breakdown over the guilt that torments her, even in her sleep, regarding her hand in Duncan’s untimely death.

Throughout the play “Macbeth” Shakespeare uses multiple examples of strong diction, paradox, metaphors, and imagery to demonstrate the theme that fate is inevitable. These examples also help emphasize that the witches are in control of Macbeth's severe and hostile actions throughout the tragic play. Without the witches prophecies the idea of murder would have never crossed Macbeth’s mind. After the witches informed Macbeth that he would soon become king he was willed to do anything to make sure this bizarre prophecy would come true.

Breaking free of the femininity she claims she would have “plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/ And dashed his brains out” an unbelievable statement especially coming from a woman (1.7.65-66). Lady Macbeth shows again how much more of a man she is than Macbeth by telling him to take initiative in being the masculine figure, he should “Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place/ did then adhere, and yet you would make both” (1.7.57-60). Driving Macbeth’s anima characteristics to be brought farther into his subconscious mind he can’t avoid his emotions anymore. Seeing Banquo’s ghost sitting at the table he cannot contain his anima any longer he becomes hysterical. Lady Macbeth is appalled by his behavior and shouts “Shame itself! / Why do you make such faces? When all's done, / You look but on a stool. (3.4.66-68). Embarrassed by her husband womanly behavior she’s desperately asking him to stop acting this way and even goes on to question “Are you a man” to which he responds “a bold one, that dare look on that/ Which might appal the devil” (3.4.57-60).

`shake my fell purpose” (1.5.49-54). Because of the witches’ prophecy, Lady Macbeth obsesses over acquiring inhuman traits to be able

In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth , Macbeth’s wife, is a very tragic character. She plays a very masculine role, even more masculine than the main male role: “She so dominates the scenes in which

It is interesting to note the importance of gender in the personifications of evil in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is as obsessed with her gender as her evil. When she implores evil to "unsex" her, to take her "woman's breasts for gall" she reveals the sense of powerlessness and weakness she feels. Being a woman makes her dependant on her husband for her social

She wishes “to make thick [her] blood” so she is unable to feel remorse, and lose all the stereotypical traits of a woman. Lady Macbeth not only defies the nurturing and emotional aspects of a woman, but also that of weakness when she yearns for “night [to] pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,” (40-41). Lady Macbeth desires to be entranced in evil so she can reject the position society has given her, and attain the power she has only dreamt of. While going down this path Lady Macbeth becomes more ruthless, ambitious, and less of a woman each step of the

Correspondingly, Macbeth’s demise is all the more stimulated by his dark partner, Lady Macbeth. Her insecurity as a woman in addition to her own hunger for power is a key supplement to Macbeth’s twisted end. Her reaction to Macbeth’s letter detailing the witches’ prophecy is quite disturbing. She reveals her fear that Macbeth’s nature “is too full o’ the milk of kindness” (1.5.29). This is in spite of the fact that as Thane of Glamis, he is known to be savage and merciless. Then, Lady Macbeth vows to taint Macbeth’s kindness and to “pour my spirits in the thine ear” (1.5.29). Later in the play, before their dinner party for King Duncan, the Lady is found to be doing just this. She kickstarts her husband’s