Lady Macbeth

• "pour" "spirits" "unsex"

  She calls upon "spirits" to unnaturally "unsex" her. Thus she is familiar and not hesistant to call upon external forces to help free her from the constraints of her femininity.
• androgynous

  (male and female nature) would be percieved as supernatural in the jacobean era as the gender roles were rigid and any break in this would show that she is possessed by a super natural force.
• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under't"(Act 1)


  Lady M encourages Macbeth to "..". The biblical allusion to the "serpent" is seen in the fall of mankind in Genesis where the serpent tempts Adam and Eve. This is used by Lady M to highlight how effective deception can be when executed on "innocent" façade.
• "dash'd the brains out"(Act 1)

  Lady M mercilessly states she would remorselessly "dash'd the brains out" of her unborn child. Her rejection to motherhood is salient, however her barbaric nature is revealed - she would be remorseless in extinguishing fragile and vulnerable human life.
• "coward"

  Lady M uses the epithet "coward" which threatens Macbeths entire sense of being as a soldier, not only is she questionning his masculinity but also his livelihood.
• Rhetorical question

  Her emasculation becomes more explicit when she interrogates Macbeth with the rhetoical question " was the hope drunk ". She does this to ridicule and question his state of mind.
• "I shame to wear a heart so white"(Act 3)

  She emasculates Macbeth further in saying ".." to ridicule his cowardice. "white" connotes purity, she is mocking his moral heart.
• “had he not resembled my father as he slept, i had done it“(Act 2)

  She attempts to excuse herself explaining “..” which exposes her inner cowardice and ingrained fear of patricide. Lady M is manipulative and 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.
• “you lack the season of all natures, sleep”(Act 3)


  In response to hearing Macbeth‘s bloodthirsty plans she claims “..”.It seems she is trying to moderate and quell his evil.She is comparatively passive and is preoccupied with the noun “sleep”
• “out, damned spot! Out i say!” (Act 5)

  The "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 percieved as a sign of being possessed by demons, it was believed demons and witches had a spot on their bodies which identified them as evil, this is reinforced by "damned" which has connatations of hell.
• "come, thick night"(Act 1)


  This imperitive language is almost like casting a spell. The noun "night" alludes to a dark supernatural force. She is calling upon supernatural forces to strip her of her femininity ("unsex me here"). This is ironic as in act 5 she is trying to find light and reverse what happened to her. This foreshadows the consequences of being invlolved with the supernatural.
• "a little water clears us of this deed" (Act 2)


  Her overpowering ambition obstructs her from seeing the genuine distress of her husband. She uses litotes to downplay the murder this is laced with irony as Lady M shifts to a melodramatic state of insanity and begins speaking in hyperbole as the guilt takes over. The euphemism hints at this, be referring to the murder as a "deed".
• Lady Macbeth [enters with a taper] (Act 5)


  As a [taper] provides light, this is emblematic of how Lady M is seeking light, jope and solace in her eternal mentall darkness. Jesus was sen to be the 'light' of the world providing salvation of mankind, therfore Lady Ms dependancy on the light could illuminatr how she is hopeful for salvation and retribution for her sins.