Macbeth: Gender Flashcards
women beards banquo
Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches: prophecy. Banquo speaking
“You should be women/yet your beards forbid me to interpret you are so”
CONT: women were seen as very delicate in jacobean era so a beard would have shocked the audience
contrast of “women” and “beards” show ambiguity of human gender showing witches supernatural nature/ lack of human qualities such as kindness
commanding verb - forbid shows the extent to which they are not human
Partner Macbeth
Lady Macbeth reading Macbeth letter
“my dearest partner of greatness”
superlative adjective “dearest” shows M and LM close bond
“Partner” - shows M views them as equals which will shock a Jacobean audience
Milk Kindness
Lady Macbeth after reading Macbeth’s letter
“It is too full o’th milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”
milk is produced in women so is presenting Macbeth too feminine and not ruthless enough which is a contrast to the battlefield
Jacobean stereotypes for women were kind and weak
raven
Lady Macbeth in an aside after hearing the king comes tonight
“the raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of duncan under my battlements”
Possessive determiner “my” presents the power that LM commands - takes ownership
“Raven” is a bid of ill omens and has connotations of witches
“hoarse” and “croak”- strength of raven is impaired to hush of the terrors to come
CONT: women owning property wouldve shocked Jacobean audience
spirits
Lady Macbeth in a soliquoy after hearing duncan is coming
“Come you spirits unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty”
LM uses imperative verbs “come” and “unsex” showing the power she has or at least the power she thinks she has.This is also an example of hubris as it is very arrogant for a human to think they can control evil forces
The verb “unsex” also shows her desire to remove all feminine qualities and become more masculine suggesting only men have power. This would have been distrubing to a jacobean audience and see as almost unnatural similar to a witch - further shown by “spirits” unnatural/supernatural
-gender/violence/supernatural
milk and gall
Lady Macbeth in a soliquoy after she has read Macbeth letter about phrophecies
“Take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers”
Imperative verb “take” shows power LM thinks she has and another example of hubris where human arrogance makes her believe she can control the supernatural
“milk” represents her feminine qualities and this is what stops her violent nature and this contrats with “gall” showing how unnatural what she wants to do is linking her to a witch and audience wouldve been shocked by the unnanturalness of it especially from a noblewoman like LM
smoke hell
Lady Macbeth soliquoy after reading Macbeth letter
“Come thick night and pall thee in the dunnest smokes of hell….nor heaven peep through blanket of dark “
Imperative verb “Come” shows LM power however it also shows a bit of her arrogance as she is commanding nature like the “night” showing her arrogance and the Jacobean audience could also see it as blasphemous as she is breaking the cycle of nature
reilgiouis nouns “hell” and “heaven” shows LM is aware of consequences of regicide but does it anyway shocking jacobean audience
“peep” - weak noun to describe heaven showing LM arrogance as she is disregarding heaven
Macbeth masculinity
Macbeth justyfying not killing Duncan to LM
“I dare do all that may become a man”
The modal verb “may” expresses possibility showing his wavering ocntingency on doing the right thing showing his lack of claroity on what to which allows LM to easily manipulate him
nipple smiling
Lady Macbeth trying to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan
“I would, while it was smiling have pulcked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out”
Violent verb “dashed” shows LM desturctive nature showing her determination
Imagery is shocking at there is a contrast in the innocence of the baby shown by the gentle verb “smiling” with the imagery of “dashed the brains out” once again showing LM destructive nature and also false appearences
CONT: audience wouldve been disturbed that a women would do this
LM manlihood attack
Lady macbeth attacking Macbeth Manlihood to manipulate him to kill duncan
“When you durst do it you were a man”
adverb “when” forces Macbeth into action as she attacks his manlihood and would hurt his pride
Role reversal a woman manipulating and dominating a man which wouldve been unusual for the jacobean audience at that time
Man Children
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth aguing whether to kill duncan
“we will proceed no further in this business … bring forth men children only”
modal verb “will” coverys Macbeth finality on his decision and the euphemisim “this business” is used to describe the murder of duncan conveying his knowledge of sinful nature of regicide and perhaps he believes deep down that duncan doesnt deserve it
CONT:shakespeare trying to please King James 1 so makes it look like regicide is very bad
Lady Macbeth compassion
Lady Macbeth talking with macbeth after he kills duncan
“had he not resembled my father as he slept i had done it”
possessive determiner of my father shows how she still cares for her father so could not bring herself to kill duncan showing her compassion and perhaps her weakness as a woman
CONT: compassion as a woman wouldve been a common idea shared in jacobean audience
LM White
After she places the dagger to guards to blame them
“My hands are of your colour but i shame to wear a heart so white”
“your colour” shows LM acknowledgement of her part in duncans murder
criticises macbeth when describing his heart as “white” showing his cowardice as in those times a white flag was often used to show surrenders and associated cowardice that comes with surrendering socking jacobean audience as a woman would normally have more compassion
“shame” shows how she dislikes cowardice that macbeth is displaying
LM Faint
As LM fake faints to distract everyone from Duncan’s murder and Banquo says
“Look to the lady”
gentle verb “look” shows Banquo compassion and caring but alternatively could be seen as an imperative verb showing his dominating nature both on battlefield and off it - good values for a king
“lady” - feeble and weak which would’ve been similar to many of the audience view of women at that time
