Macbeth

• Lady Macbeth Act 2

  • LM takes advantage of alleged feminine weaknesses when it works in her favour
  • Laced with irony as lady Macbeth shifts to a melodramatic state of insanity and begins to speak in hyperbole
  • her descent from madness will be more rapid
• key words LM

  • Hypocrisy
  • Emasculation
  • 4 witch
  • Cowardice
  • Can’t fully repress femininity
  • Femme fatale
• Lady Macbeth Act 3

  • Role reversal
  • Macbeth is using stereotypes to belittle
  • her mind has changed now preoccupied with peace and innocence
  • Lost ability to connect with God
• Banquo

  • Foil to Macbeth
• Macbeth act 2

  • Macbeth‘s dishonest dual nature juxtaposes Banquo
• Lady Macbeth act 4

  • Doesn’t appear in act 4
  • Absence in 4 then carcass of insanity act 5 emphasising fall from grace
• LM

  • More Capable of remorse
  • Mocking that lady Macbeth shares similar ideas as men
  • Absence foreshadows rapid from Grace guilt hasn’t engulfed her
• LM is

  Tragic heroine
• What do the witches speak?

  Paradox is oxymorons
• valour’s minion

  Strongly abided to code of honour minion foreshadows, his susceptibility to manipulation soon he is to be a Marinette for the witches
• fair is foul and foul is fair

  Which is speaking in paradox and oxymorons which foreshadows the overarching theme of appearance versus reality ambiguity of their prophecies
• Not like the inhabitants o the Earth banquos phyisonomy exposes them as inhuman and evil
• So foul and fair a day I’ve not seen

  • Echoes which is paradox fair is foul and foul as fair mouthpiece for the witches evil
  • he is a vessel for their misconduct
  • “not seen” implies blindness by the witches vague prophecies
  • lost sight of reality
  • malevolence schemes
• Why do you dress me in borrow’d robes

  Title that does not belong to him can be taken away
• It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness

  milk symbol of femininity maternity nursing rejects femininity

  Replace milk with evil poor builder connection to her emasculating threat that he is too human
• Can you spirits… come thick night?

  • Imperative language
  • dark supernatural force
  • casting spells
  • inhumane
• Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it

  Adam and Eve biblical illusion to the serpent devil in disguise or serpent tempting Eve tempting Adam to commit regicide
• Pour my spirits in thine ear 


  Manipulative and evil qualities
• dash’d The brains out

  • Mercilessly states
  • rejection of motherhood ,
  • femme fatal
  • barbaric nature which is also carelessly used by witches strangled babes in act 4
• o Horror, horror horror!

  Repetition and engulfed with grief abide by religious teachings
• Is this a dagger Issy before me?

  Foreshadows, his later madness
• Coward

  Threatening his entire sense of being a soldier questions is masculinity
• I am in blood

  Once on his hands now he is covered in it
• Malcolm

  • always compare to Macbeth
  • Duncan Son
  • Divinely ordained
  • Malcolm leads with pride by the people
  • Malcolm sits as a benchmark
  • No possession of power yet still prioritises Scotland
  • Padronism is paramount, unlike Macbeth who destroys the order is scotland
  • Malcolm is open and honest Avoid violence
  • Nature is to look after country
• Macbeth demise is synonymous with lady Macbeth

  Women can’t escape husbands bound to them
• Due to lady Macbeth being bound to Macbeth, she has a connection with the supernatural


  further breaking her connection with God, even though she is not directly connected to the witches
• Shakespeare uses symbolic imagery such as sleepwalking and handwashing to represent Lady Macbeth's mental state and descent into madness.
• The use of soliloquies allows Lady Macbeth to reveal her true thoughts and feelings, providing insight into her inner turmoil and motivations.
• Lady Macbeth's relationship with Macbeth highlights the destructive nature of unchecked ambition and the importance of balance between love and power.
• In contrast, Malcom represents the ideal ruler, embodying qualities like justice, wisdom, and compassion.