Lady Macbeth

• Apperance:

  • viewed as a tragic heroine as she starts out in a position of glory and success but falls from grace due to an error in judgement of her own making.
  • role shake things up and cause havoc, meaning her aim is to fool and manipulate as many people as possible with her deceitful ways.
  • benefits hugely from the divide between appearances and reality. relies on people's prejudices and assumptions to get away with her actions.
• Apperance:

  • isn't fully honest to her husband. Only
  • audience, know the extent of her plots and motivations.
  • allowing us to hear her soliloquies, Shakespeare emphasises the divide between appearances and reality and how extreme her deceit really is.
  • Other characters on stage are oblivious of who she really is, but we know the dark truth.
  • as plot develops, her own sense of self deteriorates
  • .Her suffering, torment, and hallucinations are side effects of her fragmented self.
  • She has manipulated her identity so much that she is no one at all.
• Context Femme Fatales:

  • common archetype for female characters in literature and art refers to a woman who is mysterious and seductive, using her charm to ensnare men and lead them into dangerous or deadly situations.
  • femme fatales are villains and create a sense of unease for other characters and the audience.
  • Common traits include heightened sexuality and a rejection of motherhood.
  • threatening because by rejecting motherhood, a femme fatale is denying a man his immortality and ability to leave a legacy, ultimately leading to the destruction of all men.
• Context Female Fatales:

  • her use of feminine wiles to exploit men and accomplish her own goals.
  • She threatens to emasculate Macbeth, and uses her power over him as his wife to get her own way.
  • Lady Macbeth uses her sexuality and seduction to explicitly manipulate her husband.
  • All of this is for her own ulterior motives clearly drives Macbeth to his own death.
  • warning of the dangers of unrestrained female sexuality, though, Shakespeare seems to be demonstrating the dangers of unrestrained female ambition and power.
• Context: Gender

  • pivotal role in Macbeth's perception of his own gender.
  • highly critical attacks on his manhood, and perception of masculinity as violent
  • , drives Macbeth to murder and tyranny. adds to exploration of manliness.
  • very unconventional female by traditional Jacobean standards given multiple soliloquies something that usually only male characters were allowed.
  • first introduced with dominant role in her marriage
  • Rather than appearing weak or idiotic, she is, cunning, bloodthirsty, embraces the occult and villainy to achieve hergoal. so powerful a Jacobean view her as unnatural
• Amnitious:

  • How successful her wish to "unsex" and made cruel was is questionable.
  • After Duncan's murder, she loses a lot of her confidence. ambition disappears, and she is fixated on her paranoia.
  • her ambition was all bravado. she commits herself entirely to her ambition.
  • Ambition for her is an act of sacrifice: abandons all hopes of virtue or salvation by calling upon evil spirits.
  • Shakespeare argues that ambition itself isn't the issue, but the way she embraces its control.
  • doesn't care for morality natural order or other people: they're just obstacles to her goal.