[Part 3]- Character: Lady Macbeth 🕯️ Flashcards
‘too full o’th’milk of human kindness’
Hint: milk
- Lady Macbeth criticises Macbeth’s masculinity, in which a Jacobean audience would disapprove of because they believed that men were dominant and women were expected to be passive and submissive.
‘too full o’th’milk of human kindness’
Hint: milk
- the noun ‘milk’ is associated with nurturing children. Although Lady Macbeth says this insult to criticise Macbeth, it also reflects her weakness/flaw
- as she is devoid [without] of children, since Lady Macbeth is childless.
‘unsex me here’
Hint: L
- imperative- Lady Macbeth is asking the spirits, to ’unsex’ here and make her more like a man- emotionally and psychologically.
- disturbing imagery contrasts with the quote ‘come to my woman’s breast and take my milk for gall’. Her maternal instinct is taken to the extreme
- her fatal flaw is highlighted in this quote : over-ambition
Give a brief explanation of the quote Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- Lady Macbeth advises Macbeth to look gentle, yet hide his deception within him.
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- L= ‘Look like th’ innocent flower’-simile- flower could be a representation of femininity/female qualities.
- It’s interesting to note that Lady Macbeth is giving this advice; this juxtaposes when she said ‘come you spirit that tend on mortal thoughts, and unsex me here’
- she has asked to have masculine qualities and now that she has these qualities, she perceives Macbeth as having feminine qualities- not the best way to deal with someone who is a solider/warrior.
- but then again this contrasts with the metaphor she uses asking him to be the ‘serpent’ under’t, since it could be argued a simile is a lesser description than a metaphor.
- This is because, it solely describes something as ‘like’, yet a metaphor could perhaps be a more strong/robust description- [by doing this, perhaps she is trying to appease his masculine traits]
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- L= ‘Look like th’ innocent flower’-simile- flower could be a representation of femininity/female qualities.
- It’s interesting to note that Lady Macbeth is giving this advice; this juxtaposes when she said ‘come you spirit that tend on mortal thoughts, and unsex me here’
- she has asked to have masculine qualities and now that she has these qualities, she perceives Macbeth as having feminine qualities- not the best way to deal with someone who is a solider/warrior.
- but then again this contrasts with the metaphor she uses asking him to be the ‘serpent’ under’t, since it could be argued a simile is a lesser description than a metaphor.
- This is because, it solely describes something as ‘like’, yet a metaphor could perhaps be a more strong/robust description- [by doing this, perhaps she is trying to appease his masculine traits]
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- C= this is contextually important because it reflects how After the gunpowder plot, King James had a medal struck bearing a flower and a snake to commemorate its discovery.
What other alternative interpretations can we think about the quote: ‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- I= On the other hand, this quote could reflect Macbeth’s ‘power’- since a flower is associated with feminine. She’s asking him to appear more feminine; this is ironic because it juxtaposes her demanding the spirits to ‘unsex’ her and remove her feminine qualities.
- Overall, this reflects how she desires to have more power than Macbeth, yet Macbeth gains power throughout the play [which corrupts him, maybe leading to his downfall- it turns on him- it’s what kills him]
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- But this quote could also highlight how Macbeth is a dangerous character, since it shows his deceptive nature.
- He is able to appear welcoming and gentle to the kind, but he murders him in cold blood. Showing his duality.
- Macbeth is a dangerous character, since like the serpent in Genesis 3 [in the Bible], he brings evil into the ‘paradise’ of Scotland, infecting it making it metaphorically sick.
- He brings evil into the global ‘Eden’ of the word- political’ union which Scotland is in [and is the disease which has afflicted Scotland]
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
I= Contrary to this, although it a Jacobean audience would understand the reference the story of Adam and Eve, this has another meaning as it relates to original sin [we are all inherently evil because of the offence that Adam and Eve committed].
Linking the idea of original sin to Macbeth, perhaps he is only ‘good’ because his ‘evil’ violence and killing has been utilised for King Duncan. Therefore he was always had a psychotic nature due to original sin.
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- link to the witches- like Eve had a choice to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Macbeth had freewill to murder or not murder Duncan. Yet he decides to follow the path of Evil as a result of his freewill. Therefore, the supernatural didn’t influence Macbeth nor Lady Macbeth, because he is only now manifesting his psychotic nature.
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- Lady Macbeth’s guilt is the starting point/Genesis of Macbeth murdering Duncan and she blames herself for sowing/planting this idea of murdering Duncan and begins to suffer from a guilty conscience.
- Like Lady Macbeth becomes the serpent, Macbeth also becomes the serpent because he feels no guilt or remorse throughout the play- it’s only fear that makes him hallucinate Banquo’s ghost, not his guilty conscience. This is because he fears the potential Fleance holds [Banquo’s son] as he is still alive, since they/he has only ‘scotched’ the snake, not killed it.
‘Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t’ 🌹
- Perhaps this quote also highlights Macbeth’s inner conflict: conflict between waiting for Macbeth to become king and keeping his innocence, or usurping the throne and choosing a path of evil.
