Lady Macbeth

• The patriarchal society affects Lady Macbeth when 'My father as he slept, I had done’t'

  Lady Macbeth’s guilt is intensified by the conflict between her ambition and the patriarchal role she’s expected to play. Shakespeare presents her as a woman who must suppress femininity and adopt “masculine” cruelty to seize power, yet the image of her father triggers emotional guilt — suggesting that internalised patriarchy makes her psychologically unstable.
• “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”

  • Technique: Repetition, exclamatory language, metaphor
  • Analysis: During her sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth attempts to scrub away imagined blood. The “damned spot” becomes a symbol of her inner guilt. Her use of the word “damned” also has religious connotations, implying she knows she is spiritually condemned.
• “A little water clears us of this deed.”

  • Technique: Irony, understatement
  • Analysis: Lady Macbeth initially trivialises guilt, believing it can be physically removed. This cold pragmatism contrasts sharply with Macbeth’s turmoil. Shakespeare uses this moment to foreshadow her eventual breakdown — guilt can't be washed away so easily.