Lady Macbeth

• "Stop up the access and passage to remorse"


  Theme: Violence

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: She wants to be entirely violent with no remnants of femininity - she is aware this constrains her. She sees emotion synonymous with weakness. By eradicating this weakness, she can unlock the barbaric tyrant she dreams of being.
• "Dash'd the brains out"


  Theme 1: Violence

  When: Act 1

  Analysis 1: The merciless act of rejecting maternal inclinations characterises Lady Macbeth as violent and determined, she effectively competes with Macbeth who as a man of that era, could not be weaker than a woman.
• "You lack the season of all natures, sleep"


  Theme: Violence

  When: Act 3

  Analysis: This is the antithesis to her previous violent depiction; it seems she is now trying to moderate and quell his evil. She is comparatively passive and is preoccupied with the noun 'sleep', which is used as a motif for peace and innocence. It appears she is yearning to reverse the murderous chaos as she realises her role as queen is not what she expected.
• "A little water clears us of this deed"


  Theme: Ambition

  When: Act 2

  Analysis: Her over-powering ambition obstructs her from seeing the genuine distress of her husband. She uses litotes (under-exaggeration) to downplay the murder. It is laced with irony as Lady M shifts to a melodramatic state of insanity and begins speaking in hyperbole (exaggeration) as the guilt takes over. The euphemism ints at this, by refering to the murder as a 'deed'.
• Any gender/violence quote can also be used for ambition


  Theme: Ambition

  Analysis: Gender: It shows she is ambitious to get rid of her femininity. Violence: Shows her ambition to become a violent tyrant. Both: Lady M fails to face up to the reality of it, she must placate it into less heinous (wicked) words in order to keep her (albeit temporary) composure.
• "Come you spirits" and "Pour my spirits"


  Theme: Supernatural

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: It seems she is almost casting a spell, the nouns 'spirits' and 'nights' allude to a dark Supernatural force. She years to be rid of her femininity to encompass the inhumane and witchlike role that would grant her power. Her androgynous nature would be perceived to be Supernatural in the Jacobean era as the gender roles were rigid.
• "dash'd the brains out" and the witches use "fingers of a birth strangled babe"


  Theme: Supernatural

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: They are amoral (no sense of morals) and feel an absence of guilt in the destruction of innocent life. Both Lady Macbeth and the Witches disregard of fragile human life can be seen in their interactions with Macbeth.
• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under't"


  Theme: Appearance Vs reality

  When: Act 2

  Analysis: The biblical allusion to the 'serpent', seen in the fall of mankind in Genesis, where the serpent tempts Adam and Eve, is used by Lady Macbeth to highlight how effective deception can be when executed with an 'innocent' facade.
• Any gender quote can be used for appearance Vs reality


  Theme: Appearance Vs Reality

  Analysis: Appears like a submissive feminine woman, but in reality is barbaric.
• "Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it"


  Theme: Guilt

  When: Act 2

  Analysis: The beginning exposes her guilty conscious coming to the service, exposing her inner cowardice and ingrained fear of patricide (killing of her father). Lady Macbeth is manipulative as she operates within a liminal gender, she takes advantage of alleged feminine weakness, when it works in her favour, yet brutally rejects it if it represses her.
• Critic D.J. Enright calls her "A sprinter of evil"


  Theme: Guilt

  When: Act 5

  Analysis: LM is classified as a sprinter of evil as her descent to madness is as rapid as her climb to tyranny -she quickly transitioned from a barbaric women to a carcass of insanity. Macbeth comparatively is more like a long-distance runner as his descent is slower.
• "Out, damned spot! Out I say!"


  Theme: Guilt

  When: Act 5

  Analysis: This 'spot' is emblematic of the scar the murder has created on her mind. However, this may be interpreted in another sense by Shakespeare's contemporaries. Madness was often perceived as a sign of being possessed by demons. It was believed that demons and witches had a 'spot' on their bodies which identified them as evil, this is reinforced by 'damned' which has connotations of hell.
• Lady Macbeth "[enters with a taper]"


  Theme: Guilt

  When: Act 5

  Analysis: A a 'Taper' provides light, this is emblematic of how Lady Macbeth is seeking light, hope and solace in her eternal mental darkness. Jesus was seen to be the 'light' of the world, providing salvation for mankind, therefore Lady Macbeth's dependency on the light could illuminated how she is hopeful for salvation and retribution for her sins.
• "too full o' th' milk of human kindness"


  Theme: Gender

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: This suggesting she will replace this milk with evil. The noun 'milk' is a symbol for femininity and maternal nursing. The colour (white) also alludes to purity, peace, and innocence. Lady M rejects notions of femininity.
• "Pour my spirits in thine ear"


  Theme: Gender

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: She is a femme fatale as she not only is manipulative, but rejects her womanhood and motherhood - a typical trope of a femme fatale. Her manipulation is salient in the quote as she wants to taint Macbeth's mind with her 'spirits'.
• "Was the hope drunk/ Wherein you dress' yourself?"


  Theme: Gender

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: Used to ridicule him and uses the rhetorical question as her calculated tool of her manipulation. She gives him time to ponder and think about his actions - it is clear she wants to exploit his emotion of embarrassment or shame.
• "I shame to wear a heart so white"


  Theme: Gender

  When: Act 2

  Analysis: She ridicules his cowardice. As 'white' connotes purity, she is mocking his pure and moral heart.