ACT 2: LM quotes and anaysis Flashcards
Analyse this quote: “I shame to wear a heart so white”
Lady Macbeth emasculates Macbeth and ridicules him for behaving so weak and naïve. Lady Macbeth is saying her hands are the same colour as Macbeth’s (red) but she is not behaving cowardly like Macbeth. Once again, this portrays her as an androgynous character as women were expected to be more submissive and weaker than men.
Analyse this quote: “had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it”
This exposes Lady Macbeth’s inner cowardice and ingrained fear of patricide (killing her father). Lady Macbeth is manipulative as she operates within a liminal gender, she takes advantage of alleged feminine weakness when it works in her favour yet brutally rejects it if it represses her.
Analyse this quote: “a little water clears us of this deed”
Lady Macbeth contributes to the theme of appearances versus reality in this phrase. Shakespeare simultaneously employs litotes (under-exaggeration) and euphemism. The litotes (under-exaggeration) is used to downplay the murder and Macbeth’s guilt, it is laced with irony as Lady M shifts to a melodramatic state of insanity and begins speaking in hyperbole (exaggeration) as the guilt takes over. This exposes her indifference to the murder as a façade. Shakespeare’s use of euphemism hints at this, by referring to the murder as a “deed” Lady M fails to face up to the reality of it, she must placate it into less heinous words in order to keep her (albeit temporary) composure.
Analyse this quote: “These deeds must not be thought / After these ways: so, it will make us mad.”
Lady Macbeth is expressing her fear that dwelling on their murderous actions will drive her and Macbeth to madness. She believed that they must not allow themselves to dwell on the consequences of their actions, as doing so will have a detrimental effect on their mental state. This line reflects Lady Macbeth’s growing guilt and psychological turmoil as she grapples with the consequences of their ruthless pursuit of power. Furthermore, this also exposes her indifference to the murder as a façade. Shakespeare’s use of euphemism hints at this, by referring to the murder as “deeds”. Lady Macbeth fails to face up to the reality of it, she must placate it into less heinous words in order to keep her (albeit temporary) composure.
