Macbeth Ext 5 Lady Macbeth Calls on Evil Spirits Flashcards
(12 cards)
Act 1, Scene 5 – Lady Macbeth Calls on Evil Spirits
Lady Macbeth prepares herself to help murder Duncan after reading Macbeth’s letter.
LADY MACBETH
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
Enter MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.
MACBETH
My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
LADY MACBETH
And when goes hence?
MACBETH
To-morrow, as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH
O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
What is happening in this extract (Lady Macbeth after reading Macbeth’s letter)?
Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter and immediately starts planning Duncan’s murder. She calls on dark spirits to take away her kindness and make her strong enough to do evil. She also tells Macbeth to act friendly while hiding their real plans.
Why does Lady Macbeth want to lose her femininity? (use ‘to reveal the importance of’)
To reveal the importance of power and how far some people are willing to go to get it — even abandoning who they are.
Why does Lady Macbeth want to lose her femininity? (use ‘to criticise’)
To criticise the unnatural rejection of motherhood, compassion, and morality in the name of ambition.
Why does Lady Macbeth want to lose her femininity? (use ‘to establish’)
To establish Lady Macbeth as someone who takes control and drives the murder plot forward.
How does Lady Macbeth suggest Duncan won’t survive the night?
She says ‘the raven… croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan’ and ‘never shall sun that morrow see’ — suggesting Duncan won’t live to see the next day.
How does Lady Macbeth greet and praise Macbeth? Why?
She calls him ‘Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!’ and says he’s greater than both. She’s flattering him to influence and control him.
Why does she say ‘be the serpent’? What does the serpent imagery mean?
She says ‘look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’ — it means to act nice but be deadly. The serpent represents deception and evil (like in the Bible).
Where else in the play do we see deception like this?
When Macbeth acts loyal to Duncan before murdering him, and when he hides his fear during Banquo’s ghost scene.
Choose one theme that links to this extract and explain how.
Theme: Ambition — Lady Macbeth is obsessed with power and control, and drives the murder plan.
Choose a second theme that links to this extract and explain how.
Theme: Appearance vs Reality — She tells Macbeth to look innocent but act deadly, showing the theme of deception.
Extra challenge: How is Lady Macbeth similar to Eve from the Bible?
Like Eve, Lady Macbeth tempts her husband into doing something forbidden. She uses manipulation and desire to influence Macbeth’s actions, leading to ruin.
