In Act I, scene 5 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is in Macbeth’s castle, Inverness, reading a letter she has received from him. He describes to his wife his ascension to the title of “Thane of Cawdor”, and the witches’ prophecy. Lady Macbeth believes that the witches predicted that Macbeth would become the Thane of Cawdor, and their projection that he will be crowned king will come to fruition as well. However, she does not believe her husband is aggressive enough to seize the throne on his own. She fears that he is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness”. She decides to persuade Macbeth to become king by whatever means necessary, since it seems apparent that that will be his destiny.
Lady Macbeth is a dominant character in the play, who is shown to possess the most ambitious and violent nature as well. Though in scene 5 of Act I Macbeth is portrayed as being a brave and able warrior, Lady Macbeth describes him in a different sense, thinking of him as weak, though ambitious. It becomes clear that she is willing to manipulate him to her benefit. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth desire to become powerful, but Lady Macbeth is more inclined to be ruthless in the process. Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy foreshadows the bloodshed that is to come.
When Lady Macbeth finishes her husband’s letter, she agrees he will become king, but she immediately decides that his nature will not permit him to be successful alone. She comes to this conclusion after discussing to herself all that Macbeth desires, but why he will not attain them by being a virtuous man. For example, she states “What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win.” Her speech is written in blank verse, as is the majority of the work, except for the prophecies of the witches. This makes the witches’ rhymes more sinister, creating a sense of doom.
This speech, along with Lady Macbeth’s second soliloquy later in Act I, scene 5, represents Lady Macbeth’s conviction that aggression and cruelty are masculine traits. She will later wish that she was a man, so that she herself could carry out the murders that she thinks are necessary. Also, she will use this as a tactic of persuasion, questioning Macbeth’s masculinity when he hesitates to use violence. This scene represents the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and their desire for power.
This is such a good description of this scene! I like that you showed that although Lady Macbeth feels that being aggressive and cruel is masculine, you also cite that she wishes she could be that way. Great word choice and description!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda!
ReplyDeleteYour blog looks wonderful-love the summer feel of the daisies :)
Your summary of the passage is great! It was an important aspect to note the manly attributes Lady Macbeth displays-a conversation/analysis all unto itself of how/why we associate desire for power as evil in a woman yet a strength in men. Well done.
Choosing "structure" to analyze this passage leaves the analysis a little weak; notice you only have one sentence addressing this versus your explication. That said, it is accurate, although it might be important to note that the passage does have a poetic feel due to the repetition, which adds a sense of rhythm.
GRUMPS-(grammar, usage, mechanics, punctuation, and syntax-sentence structure) is very good. The only error I find in this area is punctuation: Punctuation goes within quotation marks when quoting, and dialogue tags (she states) should be followed by a comma to separate from a direct quote. Minor errors, easy to fix :) Your word choice is excellent-well done!