Lady Macbeth Rhetorical Analysis

Lady Macbeth is more evil than Macbeth, as illustrated through her speech and mischievous temperament. The first appearance of her attitude was after Macbeth’s soliloquy about his intentions of killing Duncan or not. Lady Macbeth states to Macbeth that if he does not kill Duncan, then he will “live a coward [in his own self-esteem]” (1.7.47). The connotation of the word “coward” said by Lady Macbeth emphasizes the cruel tone of Lady Macbeth. Her criticizing is unnecessary as Macbeth is deciding between a life changing inhuman action of assassinating his own king. The cruel tone indirectly characterizes Lady Macbeth to have a mischievous temperament and overall to be more evil than Macbeth, because Macbeth is emotional suffering about killing Duncan or not, while Lady Macbeth does not portray any grief over an action so relentless. Later during the same conversation after Macbeth’s soliloquy, Macbeth says “if we should fail,” and Lady Macbeth’s response to his question is “screw your courage to the sticking place/ And we’ll not fail” (1.7.68, 70-71). The dialect by Lady Macbeth in “screw your courage to the sticking place” means for Macbeth to not be hesitant in the kill. This indirectly characterizes Macbeth to be kinder than he appears, because Lady Macbeth is doubting that he will not kill Duncan, making her emphasize the murder by stating it directly to Macbeth.