act 1 scene 5

• 'Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ Of direst cruelty.' (Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5)


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• 'look like th' innocent flower/ But be the serpent under't." - LM 1.5


  the visual imagery in the word 'look', places the thematic focus on appearance versus reality, and fabricating an appearance to cover up the reality. This notion is extended between the juxtaposition of 'look like th'innocent flower' and 'be the serpent under't' The 'serpent' is an allusion to the biblical narrative of the Garden of Eden, where the serpent tempts eve, siring forth original sin.
• 'to beguile the time, look like the time' - Lady Macbeth 1.5


  When LM counsels M to 'beguile the time, look like the time', the time reference is a metonym for men of their time. Thus, she advises him to blend in with the crowd and pretend that nothing is the miss, which is ironic as the couple perceive themselves to have a unique and elevated status
• 'your eye, your hand, your tounge' - LM 1.5


  the synecdoche pre-empts their violent acts, with the semantic field of separated body parts connoting the idea of anatomical severance
• 'be the serpent under't' biblical contex


  The 'serpent' is an allusion to the biblical narrative of the Garden of Eden, where the serpent tempts eve into tasting the forbidden fruit, siring forth original sin. This biblical context is echoed through Lady Macbeth prods her husband into committing the grave sin of regicide; effectively, turning the couple into a latter-day Shakespearean Adam and Eve
• 'to beguile the time, look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand your tounge: look like th'innocent flower, but be the serpent under't'


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• 'unsex me here'


  The use of the imperative could by a cry for the replacement of conventional womanhood with a more sinister & powerful version
• 'keen knife'


  This knife could be representative of a caesarean knife, with the 'wound it makes' brining forth a child of chaos, also foreshadowing what Macduff will reveal to Macbeth in their final face-off, as he was 'from his mother's womb untimely ripped'
• 'come you spirits'

  by employing the imperative phrase 'come you' she demonstrates a commanding familiarity with the supernatural realm. Unhesitant and determined, she calls upon dark and external forces without hesitation, seeking liberation from the societal constraints imposed by her femininity.
• syntax of 'spirits' preceding 'unsex'

  the syntax of 'spirits' preceding 'unsex' underscores her conviction that supernatural intervention is imperative for her desire to be successfully 'unsex[ed]'. The deliberate arrangement of these terms in her speech illuminates the dependence she places on the supernatural, revealing how this is a necessity for transcending societal norms