Key Quotations

• Lady Macbeth: '"Look like the innocent flower, but be serpent under't"'
• Theme

  Appearance vs Reality
• Juxtaposition

  • "flower", which connotes femininity, with "serpent", which connotes masculinity and trickery, shows how there can be a dangerous divide between a person's appearance and nature
• "Serpent"

  Could link to the biblical story of Adam and Eve
• This quote

  Could link to "Fair is foul and foul is fair" in Act 1 Scene 1, and this is why some theorise Lady Macbeth is the 4th witch
• "Look like th'innocent flower, but be the serpent under't"


  • Passive image "innocent flower" juxtaposes active corruption of "the serpent", reflecting the ideas of "fair" and "foul" in Act 1, Scene 1. Distinction is not a predicament, but becomes a specific strategy to gain political power.

  
  

  • Relate to biblical allusions - Garden of Eden. Is especially evocative as Lady Macbeth is engaged in supernatural paganism; she is asking her husband symbolically to strike out against Christian ideals - role of biblical villain?
• "I dare do all that may become a man"


  •Verb "dare" - presents manhood as adventurous

  
  

  • noun phrase "who dares do more" - Macbeth describes manhood as a limit for actions whereas Lady Macbeth wants to use it for a justification for more action.

  
  

  • Lady Macbeth wants to rid her feminism to become almost a "man" but still commands Macbeth to keep his masculinity. Lady Macbeth sees manhood as an equivalent to making rash actions and cruelty, even though it is shown to stem from the supernatural. = used mainly for manipulation of Macbeth.
• fruitless crown

  "fruitless" adj knows limit of his power no children to succeed him, synonym of fruitless is sterile, could be referring to LM who references that she's can't have children; shows power will be short lived-
• "A little water will clear us of this deed": 'Act 2 scene 2'
• Lady Macbeth's calm demeanor after the murder

  • Shows power and manipulation over their relationship
  • Foreshadows her madness driven by the guilt - where she can't wash off the blood from her hands
  • Contrasts to Macbeth's beliefs of the water clearing them "great Neptune's oceans"
• "Unsex me here": 'Act 1 scene 5'
• "When u durst do it, then you were a man": 'Act 1 scene 7'
• "Out dammed spot! Out I say!": 'Act 5 scene 1'