Lady Macbeth

Question 1

How do we see her

Answer 1

• an antagonist as she drives her husband towards murder
• tragic heroine
  = starts in glory but falls from grace due to her own error of judgement

Question 2

Context of Jacobean views

Answer 2

• women had to be devoted to their husband and his career
• she had to fulfil her husbands needs

Question 3

Her manipulation of appearance

Answer 3

• she looks feminine but if her spells worked she would become womb-less and “full of gland on the inside”
• Shakespeare emphasises the divide between appearance and reality
• her own sense of self deteriorates
• her suffering and hallucinations could be effects of her fragmented self
  = she’s manipulated her identity so much that she is no one at all

Question 4

Femme fatales- woman who is evil and mysterious

Answer 4

• her use of feminine wiles allows her to accomplish her own goals
• she uses her charm to ensnare men into dangerous situations
  = create sense of unease to characters and audience
• she threatens to emasculate Macbeth
• uses sexuality and seduction to explicitly manipulate Macbeth
• Shakespeare demonstrates the dangers of unrestrained female ambition and power

Question 5

Supernatural

Answer 5

• the methods she holds to manipulate him hold explicit supernatural links
• “pour spirits in ear”
  = allusion if demonic possession
  = garden of Eden where serpent tempted eve to sin

Question 6

Symbolism of washing her hands

Answer 6

• guilt persists beyond physical evidence
• “a little water clears us of this deed”
  = in the last scene she has gone mad and washes off invisible blood
• she isn’t as cold hearted as we thinks as she never refers to blood or death only euphemisms of
  = “deed” and “great business”
  = alludes she can’t confront reality

Question 7

Her abuse of Macbeth

Answer 7

• uses cruel, cutting insults but also uses promises of power and success
  = “my soon-to-be-king”

Question 8

Murder of Duncan

Answer 8

• in climax of murder she takes charge and remains calm as Macbeth has a personal crisis
  = she’s in control and the dominant planner
  = completely remorseless and ruthless

Question 9

Attitude towards Macbeth

Answer 9

• frustrated with Macbeth’s hysteria, guilt and fear
  = unsympathetic and closed off
• contrast between her and Macbeth’s reactions
  = her coldness against his panic
  = far removed from humanity and it’s worries

Question 10

Her start of panic- act 3

Answer 10

• she still has no guilt but becomes more paranoid