Lady Macbeth

• Why is Lady Macbeth considered as the 4th witch?

  •Calls on "spirits" to unnaturally "unsex" her. reference of "spirits" is repeated when she says she will "pour" her "spirits" in Macbeths ear.

  •Her androgynous nature would be perceived as super natural in the Jacobean era as gender roles were rigid.
• How else is Lady Macbeth shown to be the 4th witch


  •Both LM and the Witches personify the motif of appearance vs reality in the play.

  •Lady Macbeth encourages M to "look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it" the biblical allusion to the "serpent" is seen in the fall of mankind in genesis

  •The witches also employ deception: "All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter
• How does LM try to command the supernatural


  "pour my spirits in thine ear"

  • Manipulative noun "pour" builds a connection to her emasculating threat that he is "to full of the milk of human kindness", suggesting that she will replace this milk with evil.

  "Come you spirits" and "Come thick night"

  •The nouns spirits and night allude to a dark supernatural force
• Lady Macbeth operates within a liminal gender, meaning she takes advantage of her feminine exterior whenever it suits her.
• Lady Macbeth not appearing in Act 4 makes her fall from grace even more rapid. This also makes her a tragic heroine, which means her beginning status was one of power, yet her absence foreshadows her impending doom
• [Enters with a taper]

  • A taper provides light, this is emblematic of how Lady Macbeth is seeking light, hope and solace in her mental darkness.

  • Jesus was seen as the light of the world providing salvation for mankind, therefore Macbeth's dependency on light illuminates how she is hopeful for salvation and retribution for sins
• What does Lady Macbeths need for light in eternal darkness show


  •That she now the antithesis to her earlier presentation in Act where she calls upon the night "come thick night"

  •In the Jacobean era LM would have been played by a young boy. This would exacerbate her fragile presentation on the stage
• Lady Macbeths change in speech


  •Throughout the play LM speaks in blank verse which denotes characters of high status.

  •However in Act 5 she speaks in disjointed prose. Prose is normally associated with low status characters.

  •Her regression from blank verse to disjointed prose shows that her guilt has infected and engulfed her mind so she had lost the status she once had

  •Only Shakespeare character to die speaking in prose which dismisses her as insignificant
• Lady Macbeths somnambulism ( sleep disorder )


  •Attempts to wash imaginary blood clean from her hands exclaiming "Out, damned spot! Out I say" which directly juxtaposes her litotes in Act 1 " A little water clears us of this deed".

  •Her 'spot' is emblematic of the scar the murder has created on her mind
• Lady Macbeths death 


  LM's death shows the karmic punishment for the killing of Duncan and the consequences of trying to change your fate