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Summary Lady Macbeth character analysis and overview
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A detailed essay plan analysing the character of Lady Macbeth. Written in bullet point form with key quotes
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Lady Macbeth character analysis and overview When we first see her - seems a very forceful and dominant personality, - villain, or antagonist
Has no loyalty to anything beyond her own ambition – determined to have “the golden round” + is willing to
manipulate her husband - achieve goals - “pour my spirits in thine ear” she wants him to be king; she wants to be
queen. As a woman, queen = most powerful role she can hope for in the court - desire for Macbeth to be king doesn’t
stem - belief he’d be a good ruler.
“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/of direst
cruelty.” - wishes that she wasn’t a woman - could do it herself - links masculinity to ambition and violence.
Women, the play implies, can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them the means to pursue
these ambitions on their own.
Her wish to be “unsexed” and request that the spirits to “take my milk for gall,” so no remorse indicates that, rather
than lacking compassion - fears she has too much. In fact, it may be Lady Macbeth, not her husband, who may be “too
full o’ th’ milk of human kindness.”
While waiting for Macbeth to kill Duncan, she admits “Had he not resembled/ my father as he slept, I had done’t.” -
Maybe she would have killed Duncan if he didn’t look like her father; maybe not – given the opportunity to kill the
king, she couldn’t go through with it. Her previous wish that her blood would “stop up th’ access and passage to
remorse” has not come true.
However when Macbeth comes back from the murder and is struggling mentally she becomes the powerfull and
dominant character once again – “a little water clears us of this deed” - not a big deal – not affected. Irony – later –
unable to “wash this filthy witness from my hand”
However, some may say she recognizes the error of their actions, saying, “Tis safer to be that which we destroy/Than
by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” They’ve killed Duncan, but the murder only made them miserable, and in some
ways they’d be better off dead.
She puts on a brave face for her husband - encouraging him to put the past behind him (“what’s done is done”) and
stop worrying. When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, Lady Macbeth again covers for him again
appearing as the dominant character in their relationship. Reassures her guests - “the fit is monetary” - desperate
attempt to cover up. The burden of their deeds are starting to become apparent.
Macbeth doesn’t tell LM about murdering Macduff’s wife and kid - “be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck”
from “my dearest partner in greatness” no longer equals - is isolated in her guilt and has no allies.
Her power and dominance in the play decreases noticeably – no longer the heartlesws woman she once was
Last time we see Lady Macbeth = phantom blood on her hands - “out damned spot” signals that she has been troubled
by Macbeth’s murders, even though she did not commit them herself - Ambition affects her more strongly than
Macbeth before the crime, guilt plagues her more strongly afterward.
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