Lady Macbeth Flashcards
“pour my spirits in thine ear”
Act1
Fall of Man and Tragedy
The idea of the Fall of Man is central to tragedy. For a Jacobean audience, Lady Macbeth mirrors Eve: just as Eve was tempted by the serpent and led Adam to his downfall, Lady Macbeth tempts Macbeth after hearing the witches’ prophecy. She lays the foundation for his downfall, revealing her manipulative and corrupt nature.
Language and Femininity
The noun “pour” connects to her earlier fear that Macbeth is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness.” She intends to replace his nurturing “milk” with evil. Here, “milk” symbolises femininity and maternal care, both of which Lady Macbeth violently rejects.
Supernatural Influence
The noun “spirits” links Lady Macbeth to the supernatural. Through imperatives like “unsex me here” and “come, thick night,” she speaks almost like a fourth witch, calling on dark forces to strip away her humanity. Her yearning to block the “passage to remorse” shows how she sees emotion as a weakness tied to femininity — something she must destroy to gain power.
“had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it”
Act 2
Lady Macbeth’s Inner Conflict
“Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it” exposes Lady Macbeth’s inner cowardice and deep fear of patricide, disrupting her image of ruthless ambition. Although she manipulates Macbeth by performing a “liminal” gender identity — rejecting femininity when it weakens her, and embracing it when it suits her — this moment reveals her vulnerability.
Gender Commentary
Shakespeare subtly challenges the rigidity of Jacobean gender roles, suggesting that traits like strength and weakness are not truly tied to gender, but are fluid and circumstantial.
“a little water clears us the deed”
act 2
Theme of Appearance vs Reality
“A little water clears us of this deed” contributes to the theme of appearance vs reality. Shakespeare uses litotes (understatement) and euphemism to show Lady Macbeth’s emotional repression.
Litotes and Irony
The litotes downplays the horror of Duncan’s murder, laced with irony, as Lady Macbeth later collapses into guilt-ridden madness, shifting from understatement to wild hyperbole.
Facade of Indifference
The euphemism “deed” hints at her emotional denial. By reducing murder to a harmless-sounding act, Lady Macbeth tries to mask her guilt — but Shakespeare foreshadows that reality will eventually overpower appearance.
“look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”
act 3
“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”
Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as an agent of evil, manipulating Macbeth by echoing the witches’ paradoxical language (“fair is foul”), thus positioning her almost as a “fourth witch.” The juxtaposition between the “flower” (a symbol of innocence and beauty) and the “serpent” (an emblem of treachery and sin, linked to Satan in Genesis) highlights the theme of appearance vs reality and foreshadows Macbeth’s moral corruption.
Lady Macbeth’s embrace of deception reflects contemporary anxieties about female ambition and manipulation, exposing the fragility of traditional gender roles in a patriarchal society.
LM is not in Act 4
- makes her fall from grace more rapidly
- she is classified as a tragic heroine as her beginning status was that of success and power, yet her absence foreshadows her impending doom
- Act 4 exposes the tyranical rule of Macbeth whilst also highlighting how his tyranical rule will be put to an end. Significantly, LM demise is aligned with Macbeth’s demise of honourability and nobility
“out damned spot, out I say!”
guilt
act 5
• “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”
• Shakespeare uses the image of the “spot” as a powerful symbol of Lady Macbeth’s irreparable guilt.
• The “spot” can also be interpreted as a mark of possession, which was a common belief in Shakespeare’s time, where madness and guilt were thought to be linked to demonic possession.
• This interpretation is supported by the use of the word “damned,” which invokes religious imagery of hell and eternal damnation.
• Repetition of “Out”
• The repeated imperative “out” underscores Lady Macbeth’s desperation, trying to force away the guilt that overwhelms her.
• Despite her earlier assertion of control over Macbeth, she is now consumed by the very thing she once believed she could control—her conscience.
• The frantic repetition highlights the deep irony: while she once manipulated others with force, she is now helpless against the psychological consequences of her actions.
• Irony and Juxtaposition
• This sleepwalking scene contrasts with Lady Macbeth’s earlier bravado, where she dismissed guilt as a weakness, with her current torment.
• Shakespeare’s use of repetition and desperate language exposes the psychological unraveling of her character, illustrating how guilt and sin can ultimately destroy a person’s mind and soul.
Lady Macbeth enters with a taper
act 5
Lady Macbeth enters with a taper” (Act 5)
• Symbolism of the taper:
• The taper, a small source of light, symbolizes Lady Macbeth’s search for hope and redemption amidst her internal darkness.
• Her guilt and tormented conscience have left her in psychological isolation, and the light represents her desperate desire for solace or salvation from her past actions.
• Religious symbolism:
• In Christian theology, Jesus is described as the “light of the world,” offering spiritual salvation and forgiveness.
• Lady Macbeth’s dependence on the light can be interpreted as her hope for redemption. However, her deep psychological torment and guilt suggest that salvation is unattainable for her, as she is unable to atone for her sins.
• Juxtaposition:
• This moment starkly contrasts with her earlier rejection of guilt and morality, where she manipulated Macbeth without remorse.
• The taper now illuminates her moral and psychological decline, reflecting that she is far from the pure salvation she seeks, instead consumed by the weight of her unspeakable actions.
• Foreshadowing:
• The light can also be seen as foreshadowing her downfall, as she is unable to escape the consequences of her actions.
• Just as the taper eventually burns out, Lady Macbeth’s fleeting hope for redemption will also be extinguished, signifying her irreversible descent into madness.
‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O’
act 5
“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O” (Act 5)
• Recognition of guilt:
• Lady Macbeth’s declaration reveals her acknowledgment of the depth of her guilt. Her desperate attempt to clean imaginary blood from her hands symbolizes her belief that she cannot remove or atone for the sin of Duncan’s murder.
• Symbolism of the perfumes:
• The reference to “all the perfumes of Arabia” underscores the futility of trying to wash away her moral corruption. The exotic and overwhelming scents represent an unreachable escape from her overwhelming guilt, showing how no external comfort can soothe the internal chaos she now faces.
• Fragmented speech and loss of control:
• The repeated “O, O, O” signals Lady Macbeth’s mental disintegration. This fragmented speech contrasts sharply with her earlier, assertive command in Act 1, where she confidently calls on spirits.
• The shift from blank verse (used in earlier acts to show control and authority) to prose here signifies her loss of mental control and highlights the depth of her psychological collapse.
• Contrast to earlier authority:
• Earlier in the play, Lady Macbeth uses blank verse to assert her authority, but here she is reduced to unstructured prose. This represents her descent into madness, where she is no longer the manipulative, powerful figure she once was, but is instead consumed by guilt and despair.
Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it
- characterises Macbeth as a marionette of evil influence, he echos both the witches in their lexis and his wife
-the imagery of the “innocent flower” highlights the goodness, but also the vulnerability, of honest human behaviour.
-The juxtaposition with “the serpent under’t” is a clear biblical reference to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, who helped to bring original sin into the world. The audience would certainly link this with the Devil. This suggests Lady Macbeth would rather act like the devil than as a moral human being - like the witches, she sees that “fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
-The word “under’t” implies evil is underneath all of our behaviour.
-The imperative verb ‘look’ highlights her power over her husband as she gives him commands.
-The enjambment and the turning point of the word ‘but’ highlight her deliberate slyness and the contrast between the outward appearance and the inner reality. - Shakespeare shows her as manipulative and sinful, deliberately playing on contemporary perceptions of women.
