Lady Macbeth

• Act 1 - quote 1and 2

  • " unsex me here" "make thick my blood"
  • take away what makes her female
  • make her into a male - no emotions + strength to kill Duncan because she doesn't believe Macbeth can do it
• Act 1 - quote 3

  • " Your hand ,your tongue; look th'innocent flower, but be the serpent under't"
  • wolf in sheep clothing
  • prelapsarian imagery - links to Genesis story of Satan being disguised as a serpent
• Act 2 quote 1

  • " Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers"
  • weak
  • emasculating
  • imperative "give" - taking control
• Act 2 quote 2

  • " My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white"
  • both of their hands are bloody but she isn't a coward like Macbeth
• Act 3 quote 1

  • " What's done is done"
  • ironically , this attempt to move on foreshadows her eventual breakdown in Act5 5 when she repeats " What's done cannot be undone"
• Act 3 quote 2

  • "Are you a man"
  • questions Macbeths masculinity
  • manipulation
  • influence over him is waning as he becomes consumed by his own fears and plans
• act 1


  • "that my keen knife not see the wound it makes nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark"
  • let Macbeth not see the damage he causes
  • don't let God see
• act 1


  • "be so much more the man"
  • emasculating
  • using masculinity against him