Lady Macbeth Flashcards
(9 cards)
“Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me of direst cruelty”
Imperative to show her power.
Invitational phrase to show her acceptance of the supernatural
Explicit rejection of traditional female behaviour as she believes it restricts her
“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t”
Imperative - reject Great Chain of being as she asserts authority above Macbeth by instructing him
Belief that evil lies below all behaviours
“Innocent flower” - highlights the goodness and vulnerability of honest and good behaviour
Juxtaposition
Biblical reference to serpent - which brought original sin into the world
“I would’ve, while it was smiling in my face have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums and dash’d the brains out”
Cruelly reject, and even kill her child in her desperate pursuit for power
Ability to feel no guilt and willingness to destroy something so innocent
Foreshadows horrors later on in the play
“A little water clears us of this deed”
Colloquial language to show insignificance of murder
“Us” - sees herself as equal to her husband
“When you durst do it then you were a man”
Emasculating Macbeth as she knows it’s his weakness
Convincing Macbeth to kill Duncan
“All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little hand”
Juxtaposition and hyperbole between all and little - shows extent of guilt
Motif of cleaning - cannot redeem herself
“She has her light lit by her continually”
Motif of light and dark - desire for light mirrors realisation of her wrongdoings
“Come thick night and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”
Imperative summoning hell.
Her evil deeds to be hidden
Ominous tone
[offstage death]
Punishment for sin
Insignificance
