Lady Macbeth and Macbeth thoughts and feelings
William Shakespeare: Macbeth Explore the ways in which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are presented… You should consider: - the thoughts and feelings Macbeth and Lady Macbeth express
- the way other characters react to them
- what makes the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth so important Act 2, Scene 2 - In the opening two lines of the scene, Lady Macbeth describes how she has been overwhelmed by passion. She is drunk with the power she has given herself and possibly the power she has over Macbeth in making him carry out her deeds. In the line ‘quench’d them’, she is referring to the drugging Duncan’s guards in comparison to the way that has ‘given me fire’. The ‘fire’ is symbolic of the emotion she is feeling. - In her second speech, Lady Macbeth shows some hesitation in the success of the deed but this is through not trusting Macbeth rather than guilt at what she has instructed to be done, ‘I am afraid they have awaked, And
‘tis not done. By clarifying her fear with ‘The attempt and not the deed’, she is showing a lack of faith in Macbeth who is carrying out the attempt; she does not feel guilt towards the deed itself. - Macbeth has done what Lady Macbeth was unable to do in murdering
Duncan so this could represent a weakness in Lady Macbeth and how her power is false because she cannot actually commit the action she wishes.
Lady Macbeth cannot murder Duncan because he ‘resembled my father as he slept’. - Macbeth expresses guilt and regret when examining what he has done in
‘This is a sorry sight. Looking on his hands’. The adjective ‘sorry’ shows his feelings about what he has done. However, Lady Macbeth reacts aggressively to this, ‘A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.’ She is speaking in a derogatory way towards Macbeth labelling his feelings as
‘foolish’.
- In his description of the events that have unfolded, Macbeth is again speaking with regret as he has been
- the way other characters react to them
- what makes the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth so important Act 2, Scene 2 - In the opening two lines of the scene, Lady Macbeth describes how she has been overwhelmed by passion. She is drunk with the power she has given herself and possibly the power she has over Macbeth in making him carry out her deeds. In the line ‘quench’d them’, she is referring to the drugging Duncan’s guards in comparison to the way that has ‘given me fire’. The ‘fire’ is symbolic of the emotion she is feeling. - In her second speech, Lady Macbeth shows some hesitation in the success of the deed but this is through not trusting Macbeth rather than guilt at what she has instructed to be done, ‘I am afraid they have awaked, And
‘tis not done. By clarifying her fear with ‘The attempt and not the deed’, she is showing a lack of faith in Macbeth who is carrying out the attempt; she does not feel guilt towards the deed itself. - Macbeth has done what Lady Macbeth was unable to do in murdering
Duncan so this could represent a weakness in Lady Macbeth and how her power is false because she cannot actually commit the action she wishes.
Lady Macbeth cannot murder Duncan because he ‘resembled my father as he slept’. - Macbeth expresses guilt and regret when examining what he has done in
‘This is a sorry sight. Looking on his hands’. The adjective ‘sorry’ shows his feelings about what he has done. However, Lady Macbeth reacts aggressively to this, ‘A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.’ She is speaking in a derogatory way towards Macbeth labelling his feelings as
‘foolish’.
- In his description of the events that have unfolded, Macbeth is again speaking with regret as he has been