LADY MACBETH

• "Out damned spot!"

  "Hell is murky"

  "..when none can call our power to account?" (Act 5 Scene 1)

  BLOOD MOTIF - acknowledges and fears her soul will go to Hell, blood represents her Christian GUILT.

  "Hell is murky" links to earlier "filthy air" - she carries a taper (candle) symbolizing the light from Christianity. THEME: GUILT

  RHETORICAL QUESTION - shows Lady Macbeth's power in the marriage. Her tragedy was that she didn't realise how vulnerable she'd become. THEME: AMBITION (it becomes too great for her)
• "unsex me here"

  "fill me.. of direst cruelty" (ACT 1 SCENE 5)

  IMPERATIVE - Femininity seen as barrier to achieving power - women must act in an unfeminine way to become powerful. Witches also been excluded from society + turned to evil for power. Lady Macbeth is a 'failed wife' - she lost a child, failing to provide an heir. Failed her societal role, now wants to seek power differently.

  SUPERLATIVE - associates manhood to 'cruelty'. Shakespeare wants King James to reject cruelty after having survived the Gunpowder plot. Macbeth fails as King due to his cruelty, not due to killing Duncan.
• "dash'd the brains out" (ACT 1 SCENE 7)

  CONSONANCE - aggressive imagery reflects her aggression and suggests the aggression Macbeth should take in killing the King.

  Society has made her evil as she has failed to fulfil her societal role in providing an heir since her children could not survive.

  Shakespeare questions society's values wherein women are judged solely on their ability to produce children, their husbands and appearance OR he agrees with society's views of women and shows how Lady Macbeth tries to exceed the role of a woman and is rightly punished. THEME: VIOLENCE
• "like the poor cat i' th' adage" (ACT 1 SCENE 7)

  Simile - compares Macbeth to the proverbial cat that wants fish but doesn't want to get its paws wet. This is emasculating for Macbeth - she deliberately manipulates him to question his masculinity.