lady macbeth

• violence

  pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out
• ambition

  the raven himself is a hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of duncan under my battlements (act 1 scene 5)
• translation:

  pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out

  i would pull my nursing baby from my breast and smash its head
• pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out

  emphasises lady macbeths ruthlessness and her willingness to forsake instincts for power.

  highlights androgynous of lady macbeth’s nature…… rejects maternal nature.

  defiance of natural roles cements her position as an antagonist, going againts society’s norms to manipulate and emasculate macbeth into violence
• zoom - “nipple” and “boneless gums“ ”dashed”

  highlights lady Macbeth's moral corruption.

  dashed - violent, disrespectful lack of care in the end.

  it reveals a distorted twist on the motherly role ….. turns an act of care into a act of extreme tyrannical violence
• gender

  when you dust do it, then you where a man
• guilt

  a little water will clear us of this deed
• appearance vs reality

  who dares receive it other/ as we shall make our grief and clamour roar / upon his death?
• supernatural

  come thick night and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell
• key context (violence quote)

  patriarchy - lady macbeths speech is deeply subversive. her rejection of traditional femininity and her aggressive desire for power challenge expectation of women's roles within the patriarchal framework of the time. agresseive and dominance are things she believes as necessary for achieving power
• key context (violence quote)

  seven deadly sins greed anger, wrath pride and envy
• extra context

  critic D.J enright contends that macbeth and lady macbeth adopt differing approaches to their heinous crimes he calls lady macbeth a “sprinter of evil“ where as macbeth is more of a “long distance runner”
• when you durst do it, then you were a man

  lady macbeth undermines macbeths sense of masculinity by suggesting that his ability to commit regicide is closely tied with his worth as a man. (identity).

  exploits societal norms to lure macbeth into violence masking her own ruthlessness with the mask of marital loyalty
• zoom - man

  lady macbeth is taking advantage and twisting the views of how a man should be and distorting that with the act of regicide and being noble.

  by forcing macbeth to equate manhood lady macbeth amplifies her role of being an antagonist distorting gender roles to manipulate him into regicide.
• key context - gender

  when lady macbeth is challenging macbeths manly hood through the act of murder she is defying the great chain of being and also the divine authority.

  she is defying the patriarchal society by acting like she is in charge of her husband.