7/21/2023 0 Comments Famous macbeth quotesShe is losing control of him and he no longer confides in her. In contrast to her earlier scenes with Macbeth in which she dominated and drove their conversation with long, complex speeches, in this scene she is reduced to short sentences comprised of monosyllabic words. “Tis the eye of childhood, That fears a painted devil.”Īfter calling Macbeth a coward before the murder, she accuses him of acting like a child after it. The key point in this quotation is that it marks the point at which she no longer uses the intimate ‘thou’ with her husband, but the more distant ‘you’ – the first sign of a break in their relationship. Here Lady Macbeth begins the fierce attack on Macbeth’s masculinity that will batter him into changing his mind over his decision not to kill Duncan. “What beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me?” This adds more depth to the contextual historical links the play has. ![]() “Look like th’innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t”Īnother much used quotation, but less well-known is that it refers to a medal James I had struck after the thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot – the head side features a flower and the underside a serpent. This subtle and apparently innocuous response to Macbeth’s statement that Duncan is to stay in their castle is a signal to Macbeth that she is thinking exactly the same thing that he is about the opportunity that this visit brings him. Just as they do in their Witches’ Prophecy, Lady Macbeth also calls on evil spirits – it is only the matter of social class that separates them? “Come you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.”Īlthough oft-quoted, this can be used to kick-start an intriguing discussion over the difference between Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters. The character frequently appears in exam questions, often based on the range of her influence upon Macbeth or the presentation of her as a ‘fiendlike queen”.Īs one of Shakespeare’s most powerful and active female characters Macbeth’s ‘dear wife’ provides rich material for essay responses. ![]() She is shown as a strong and ruthless woman, with vaulting ambition and courage, able to push her husband, ‘brave Macbeth’ to do anything for her (including murder Duncan), yet she ends the play, and her life, as a broken figure, destroyed by the guilt she has fought so hard to suppress. Although she actually appears in around a third of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s influence looms large across the text.
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