Lady Macbeth

Question 1

How is Lady Macbeth presented at the start of the play?

Answer 1

Dominant
Subversive
Powerful
Manipulative

Question 2

How does Lady Macbeth change as the play progresses?

Answer 2

Starts to lose her power and influence as Macbeth becomes more paranoid and excludes her

Question 3

How is Lady Macbeth presented at the end of the play?

Answer 3

Completely overwhelmed by guilt to the point that she commits suicide

Question 4

“Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here”

Answer 4

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth (after reading Macbeth’s letter about the prophecies)

Imperatives - commanding the supernatural/engaging with evil

“unsex me here” - wants to be stripped of her feminine qualities

Question 5

“Come, ___________ / That tend on mortal thoughts, ________ _____ here”

Answer 5

“Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here”

Question 6

“Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall”

Answer 6

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth (after reading Macbeth’s letter about the prophecies)

Wants to swap her “milk” for “gall” (poison) - rejecting a maternal role for power

Question 7

“Come to _________, / And take my _____ for _____”

Answer 7

“Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall”

Question 8

“Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”

Answer 8

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth (after reading Macbeth’s letter about the prophecies)

Imperatives - makes Lady Macbeth seem like a witch/unnatural as she’s summoning hell

“pall thee” (cover thee) - asking the night to hide her evil doings

Question 9

“Come, ______ _______, / And pall thee in the ______ ______ of _____”

Answer 9

“Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”

Question 10

“When you durst do it, then you were a man”

Answer 10

Act 1 Scene 7 - Lady Macbeth (persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan)

Emasculating Macbeth - cruel, demeaning tone

Question 11

“When you _____ ___ ___, then you _____ ___ _____”

Answer 11

“When you durst do it, then you were a man”

Question 12

Lady Macbeth says she would have “dash’d the brains out” of her “smiling” child, if she had promised so to Macbeth

Answer 12

Act 1 Scene 7 - Lady Macbeth (persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan)

Violent verb - shows how ruthless Lady Macbeth is, subverting the nurturing role of a mother

Question 13

Lady Macbeth says she would have “____________________” of her “______” child, if she had promised so to Macbeth

Answer 13

Lady Macbeth says she would have “dash’d the brains out” of her “smiling” child, if she had promised so to Macbeth

Question 14

MACBETH: “if we should fail?”
LADY MACBETH: “we’ll not fail”

Answer 14

Act 1 Scene 7 - Lady Macbeth (persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan)

Shows Lady Macbeth’s confidence and dominance in contrast to Macbeth’s doubts (shown through his questions)

Question 15

MACBETH: “if we ________ ________?”
LADY MACBETH: “we’ll _____ ______”

Answer 15

MACBETH: “if we should fail?”
LADY MACBETH: “we’ll not fail”

Question 16

“Nought’s had, all’s spent”

Answer 16

Act 3 Scene 2 - Lady Macbeth (discussing their power with Macbeth)

Juxtaposition - shows her regret, all their actions were pointless as their power is not secure

Question 17

“__________ had, all’s ______”

Answer 17

“Nought’s had, all’s spent”

Question 18

“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the deed”

Answer 18

Act 3 Scene 2 - Macbeth (excluding Lady Macbeth from the plot to kill Banquo)

Imperative “be” - now Macbeth is in control

“dearest chuck” - term of endearment, but using it dismissively

Contrast to Act 1 Scene 5 when Macbeth calls her his “dearest partner of greatness”

Question 19

“Be ________ of the ______________, ______ _______, / Till thou applaud the _______”

Answer 19

“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the deed”

Question 20

“Out, damned spot! out, I say!”

Answer 20

Act 5 Scene 1 - Lady Macbeth (goes mad out of guilt and fear)

Imperatives and repetition - her desperation and loss of control

Question 21

“Out, ________ _______! ______, I say!”

Answer 21

“Out, damned spot! out, I say!”

Question 22

“What, will these hands ne’er
be clean?”

Answer 22

Act 5 Scene 1 - Lady Macbeth (goes mad out of guilt and fear)

Motif of cleansing - represents the impossibility of redeeming herself

Question 23

“What, will these hands _____ ___ _____?”

Answer 23

“What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”

Question 24

“All the ________ of ________ will not ________ this ______ hand”

Answer 24

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”

Question 25

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”

Answer 25

Act 5 Scene 1 - Lady Macbeth (goes mad out of guilt and fear)

“All” vs “little” - nothing can cover the stench of the blood on her hands (representing her guilt)

Motif of cleansing - represents the impossibility of redeeming herself

Question 26

“A little water clears us of this deed”

Answer 26

Act 2 Scene 2 - Lady Macbeth (reacting to killing Duncan)

Motif of cleansing - reveals her arrogance that she will be able to escape guilt at the start

Question 27

“A _____ water _____ us of this ______”

Answer 27

“A little water clears us of this deed”

Question 28

“she has light by her continually”

Answer 28

Act 5 Scene 1 - Gentlewoman (Lady Macbeth’s maid, commenting on her going mad)

Motif of light and dark - her desire for light now mirrors her realisation of her wrongs/her fear of punishment

Question 29

“she has _____ by her _________”

Answer 29

“she has light by her continually”