essay on how lady macbeth is presented

Lady Macbeth as Powerful

The essay below uses this simple structure:, an introductory paragraph to summarise an answer to the question, one paragraph about the extract, one about the rest of the play, one about context., 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 murd'ring 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”, starting with this speech, explain how far you think shakespeare presents lady macbeth as a powerful woman., write about:, how shakespeare presents lady macbeth in this speech, how shakespeare presents lady macbeth in the play as a whole., the essay below is written using a simple structure:, an introductory paragraph to summarise an answer to the question., one paragraph about the extract., one about the rest of the play., before you read the answer below, why not have a think about how you'd answer this question. i've highlighted the quotes i'd write about - do you agree or would you focus elsewhere also, which sections from the rest of the play would you focus on and what contextual factors influenced lady macbeth's presentation, most importantly, though, have a think about how you'd write that opening paragraph - answer the question in two or three simple sentences., an example answer, during the majority of the play, lady macbeth is presented as being a powerful woman who defies the expected gender stereotype of the caring, soft, gentle female. by the end of the play, however, she kills herself as she discovers that although she can order the rest of the world around, she cannot control her own guilt, right at the opening of this speech, lady macbeth makes her position known when she describes “my” battlements. the use of the possessive pronoun emphasises that she thinks of the castle walls as being her own. she follows this by calling “come you spirits.” the use of this magic spell has two effects on the audience: firstly, she is calling for dark magic to come and support her. this would have reminded the audience of the possibility that she was a witch and had all the evil powers connected with them. also, she is using an imperative here: “come you spirits.” she’s not asking them but telling them. this shows that she expects even the supernatural world to answer to her demands. one of the things she demands is that they “stop up the access and passage to remorse.” this means that lady macbeth doesn’t want to feel any regret for what she is about to do, which would make her powerful. she is no longer going to be slowed down by feelings of compassion or care in her pursuit of power. finally, she says that the spirits should “take my milk for gall.” here, she is asking that her own milk be turned to poison. this suggests that she is turning something caring and supportive into something deadly, giving her even more evil powers. also, milk is pure white and suggests innocence and purity so lady macbeth is asking that what is innocent and pure about her gets turned into something deadly. throughout this speech lady macbeth sets herself up as being someone very powerful, who is able to control even the spirits., her power continues throughout the play. lady macbeth suggests the murder and talks macbeth into it – showing that she is powerfully persuasive. she also plans the murder, showing that she is intelligent as well. she also stays calm under pressure, such as when macbeth arrives with the daggers from the murder scene but lady macbeth returns them to the scene so that they don’t get caught. she is also able to manipulate macduff when she faints in shock after they discover duncan’s body. you could easily argue that lady macbeth’s ambition was more powerful than macbeth’s, and that the murder wouldn’t have ever happened with her involvement. she is determined to become powerful and will stop at nothing to get it. at the end the play though she is caught sleepwalking, and she confesses to all that they’ve done. this is interesting, however, as while she is sleep-walking she is not in control of herself so she is not really aware of what she’s doing. it could be the case that lady macbeth herself never felt guilty, though she couldn’t hide her real feelings from her dreams. in the end, she dies. malcolm claims that she killed herself quite violently, but since it happens off-stage we cannot be sure. what is clear is that although she could push macbeth around, and trick macduff, and even order the spirits to do her bidding, she couldn’t order the blood off her own hands., shakespeare presents a very powerful female character in lady macbeth, and although this would have been quite radical for people in jacobean england there were other powerful, female role models to choose from: bloody mary or queen elizabeth are good examples. this play, however, was written for king james who had just taken the throne of england, and james was not a fan of queen elizabeth – who had killed his mother, mary queen of scots (and he might not even have been a big fan of his mum, because she married the man who killed his dad) as a result, james would have enjoyed seeing this powerful woman become such a villain and then getting punished for her crimes..

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William Shakespeare

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Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. When we first see her, she is already plotting Duncan’s murder, and she is stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious than her husband. She seems fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder. At one point, she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself.

This theme of the relationship between gender and power is key to Lady Macbeth’s character: her husband implies that she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body, which seems to link masculinity to ambition and violence. Shakespeare, however, seems to use her, and the witches, to undercut Macbeth’s idea that “undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males” (1.7.73–74). These crafty women use  female  methods of achieving power—that is, manipulation—to further their supposedly male ambitions. Women, the play implies, can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them the means to pursue these ambitions on their own.

Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections; when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself. Lady Macbeth’s remarkable strength of will persists through the murder of the king—it is she who steadies her husband’s nerves immediately after the crime has been perpetrated.

Afterward, however, Lady Macbeth begins a slow slide into madness—just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. By the close of the play, she has been reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, desperately trying to wash away an invisible bloodstain. Once the sense of guilt comes home to roost, Lady Macbeth’s sensitivity becomes a weakness, and she is unable to cope. Significantly, she (apparently) kills herself, signaling her total inability to deal with the legacy of their crimes.

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William Shakespeare

• Literature Notes
• Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth at a Glance
• Play Summary
• About Macbeth
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Act I: Scene 1
• Act I: Scene 2
• Act I: Scene 3
• Act I: Scene 4
• Act I: Scene 5
• Act I: Scene 6
• Act I: Scene 7
• Act II: Scene 1
• Act II: Scene 2
• Act II: Scene 3
• Act II: Scene 4
• Act III: Scene 1
• Act III: Scene 2
• Act III: Scene 3
• Act III: Scene 4
• Act III: Scene 5
• Act III: Scene 6
• Act IV: Scene 1
• Act IV: Scene 2
• Act IV: Scene 3
• Act V: Scene 1
• Act V: Scene 2
• Act V: Scene 3
• Act V: Scene 4
• Act V: Scene 5
• Act V: Scene 6
• Act V: Scene 7
• Act V: Scene 8
• Act V: Scene 9
• Character Analysis
• Character Map
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Character Analysis Lady Macbeth

Macbeth 's wife is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. Unlike her husband, she lacks all humanity, as we see well in her opening scene, where she calls upon the "Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts" to deprive her of her feminine instinct to care. Her burning ambition to be queen is the single feature that Shakespeare developed far beyond that of her counterpart in the historical story he used as his source. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage, even though we know of his bloody deeds on the battlefield. But in public, she is able to act as the consummate hostess, enticing her victim, the king, into her castle. When she faints immediately after the murder of Duncan , the audience is left wondering whether this, too, is part of her act.

Ultimately, she fails the test of her own hardened ruthlessness. Having upbraided her husband one last time during the banquet (Act III, Scene 4), the pace of events becomes too much even for her: She becomes mentally deranged, a mere shadow of her former commanding self, gibbering in Act V, Scene 1 as she "confesses" her part in the murder. Her death is the event that causes Macbeth to ruminate for one last time on the nature of time and mortality in the speech "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" (Act V, Scene 5).

Previous Macbeth

Next Duncan

Characters - AQA Lady Macbeth in Macbeth

Macbeth has a small cast of characters. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth have the main roles and their ambition and eventual downfall is key to the storyline.

Part of English Literature Macbeth

Lady Macbeth in Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is even more ambitious and ruthless than her husband. As soon as an opportunity to gain power presents itself, she has a plan in mind. She uses her influence to persuade Macbeth that they are taking the right course of action and even takes part in the crime herself.

For a while she is able to suppress her actions but eventually she becomes unable to deal with the guilt of what she has done. She becomes unable to sleep, and mentally unstable, eventually dying in tragic circumstances.

Social and historical context

In both Shakespeare's time and in the time when the play takes place, women had a much lower status than would be the case today. Wives were little more than the property of their husbands and had no legal rights. Their main purpose was to have children and support their menfolk. Lady Macbeth appears to be a much more feisty character with ambitions and desires of her own; these are characteristics that could imply a lack of femininity. It is worth remembering that in the original performances of the play the part of Lady Macbeth would have been played by a man and this would have helped to emphasise the character's masculine qualities.

Analysing the evidence

Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull Of direst cruelty: make thick my blood, Stop up th'access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th'effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature’s mischief.

What are we told here about Lady Macbeth's character?

Show answer Hide answer

How to analyse the quote:

" Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull Of direst cruelty : make thick my blood. Stop up th'access and passage to remorse , That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th'effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers , Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief." (Act 1 Scene 5)

• 'Come, you spirits' / 'Come...you murd'ring ministers' - Lady Macbeth feels powerful enough to summon and command evil spirits
• 'unsex me' - she asks for her feminine qualities to be removed
• 'direst cruelty' / 'Stop up th'access and passage to remorse' - she wants any feelings for others she might have replaced with absolute wickedness and doesn’t wish to feel sympathy for others
• 'fell purpose' - the most important thing to her is achieving her ambition

How to use this in an essay:

Lady Macbeth has just learned her husband's news about the Witches' predictions and that King Duncan will be staying with them that very night. In a scene of shocking ambition she calls upon the powers of evil to assist her ( 'Come, you spirits' / 'Come ... you murd'ring ministers' ). In this respect she is very much like the Witches casting a spell to summon up evil spirits. She feels that the most important thing for her to achieve is her 'fell purpose' and will stop at nothing to accomplish this. She even wishes to remove her own feminine qualities ( 'unsex me' ) and trade 'remorse' for 'direst cruelty' . All of this would have been doubly shocking to Shakespeare's original audience because it was spoken by a woman.

More guides on this topic

• Plot summary - AQA
• Themes - AQA
• Form, structure and language - AQA
• Dramatisation - AQA
• Sample exam question - AQA

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Macbeth ‘Power’ Essay [Draft]

How does one get an essay done from the entire play? The answer lies in taking key scenes, getting them into a Word document and then highlighting, in yellow, the relevant short quotes that fit the need of the essay when it is done. Once you have the highlighted quotes, you then delete the rest, leaving gaps between the quotes, so you can develop links between the words spoken by one character or another.

I did this and then put an essay together for you, to show you how it is done, but being the creative writer and thinker that I am, ended up with nearly 1300 words. I think it was 1296 words to be precise. So, I had to edit the file and take out relevant bits. What began by using 3 key scenes, then became an essay using 2 key scenes, leading to an essay of 840 words. Now technically, that is 15 words over the 10% limit AQA sets for Controlled Assessments, but if that happens to you, fear not.

Here is the essay in its fullness……..enjoy and try to emulate this.

Explore the ways that power is presented in Macbeth, with reference to the power that Lady Macbeth has over her husband.

Power exists within all relationships and is usually portrayed in fiction as patriarchal, but what the Bard is famous for as a playwright, is subverting the accepted norm and bringing to the attention of the public new ideas relating to the power relationships that exist. His play, Macbeth, about the Scottish tyrant King who is affected by witchcraft and the inward desires of his own wife’s evil intentions, is a good example of this power that exists in such relationships, even regal ones.

In Act 1, Scene 5, after Macbeth has been visited by the three witches on the heath, he writes a letter to his wife back at his castle. When she receives it, the audience begin to see where the power lays in their relationship. When she says “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised” she is expressing her desires to see her husband crowned King, but there is a problem; the present King, Duncan, is alive and well, so she begins to plot his demise. But as she does so she knows that her husband is a man who is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness” to undertake such a task as killing the King.

Shakespeare is using the language of kindness to describe Macbeth but follows this up with Lady Macbeth summoning evil spirits to aid her in her quest for her husband to become King. She says “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!” Never could words uttered by any character in fiction be any more powerful than these, for she is asking for evil spirits to appear before her and make her utterly evil in every way. She wants to kill the King and feel no remorse. She wants to direct and urge her husband in the act of murder and treason because of her lust for power.

When Macbeth returns to the castle and is unsure of the plan to take over the throne, it is Lady Macbeth who tells him to “bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” when the King arrives. She is telling Macbeth that he must appear to the King as friendly and unassuming; deceptive so as to gain power. What becomes evident is that power does corrupt, even if it is in the sense of the chance of power corrupting someone who is vulnerable to temptation.

Later, in Act 1 Scene 7, Macbeth doubts if he can murder the King. His soliloquy, spoken to the audience, leaves them in no doubt at all about his state of mind. He knows that he is the King’s “kinsman and his subject,” that he is related to the King as well as fond of him and this makes the act of murder harder for Macbeth to endure. He knows that Duncan “hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office” and so, says that he “will proceed no further in this business.”

At this point, Macbeth is withering under the pressure of his wife’s plan, so she has to control him. She has to be the driving force in the relationship and asks “art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?” This shows the difference between Lady Macbeth and her husband, for just as much as he is unwilling to commit murder, she would take her baby and “while it was smiling in [her] face, have pluck’d [her] nipple from his boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out” in order to summon up the will to kill the King.

Clearly, Lady Macbeth is being controlled and is also the controlling influence over Macbeth in this play. This is further worked out as she then tells him to “screw [his] courage to the sticking-place,” so that they [will] not fail.” At this point the audience hear and see that Macbeth has been persuaded to kill, which will ultimately bring about the downfall of himself and his wife, through tyrannical leadership and revenge from Macduff and the breaking of Lady Macbeth’s mind, leading to suicide.

What is evident throughout this play is the way that Shakespeare subverts the role of the woman, creating a woman who is manipulative of her husband, in complete control of him and someone who can drive him forward, through the depths of temptation to the most hideous act of all; murder. The act of regicide becomes the catalyst for the play to continue through the reign of Macbeth, the tyrant King, to his demise at the hands of Macduff and the subsequent crowning of the next King, Malcolm of Scotland. What Shakespeare has done here is merge history with tragedy; the tragic loss of power and control and the tragedy that awaits anyone in power, for as the saying goes, “power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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How is Lady Macbeth presented in Macbeth

Character Sketch of Lady Macbeth 

◇ lady macbeth, concept of fourth witch:.

It is often presumed that Lady Macbeth is the ‘fourth witch’. She is considered the prime driving force behind all the crimes Macbeth committed, right from murdering King Duncan to that of Banquo. But why did she become of a bundle of nerves after King Duncan’s murder gradually? Was it because of an irrevocable guilt-feeling Or because of her transformation into the ‘fourth fiend’. 

She is the Eve who had to be expelled by God along with the first man, Adam. Lady Macbeth may also be compared to Vittoria Crombone of Webster and even Goneril who incited Albany almost in a similar manner as Lady Macbeth. But Lady Macbeth surpasses all of them in the ways she gives vent to her pent-up feelings. She invites the spirits in Act I, Sc. Vii, to unsex herself. She invokes ‘cruelty’ instead of ‘pity’ to fill her bosom to the brim. She also dares to say that she has the ruthlessness to ram a newborn babe on the floor, if needed.

She, no doubt, had given a suck. That ‘sweet dove had died’ and perhaps, since then, Lady Macbeth grew furious to add a meaning to her otherwise drab existence. She had no fulfillment in her life, except her husband, Macbeth’s ascending the ladder of success, through his vaulting ambition. Hence, with her limited wit and Intelligence, she tries to invoke the latent power in her husband to gain success by hook or by crook. 

◇ Lady Macbeth, Woman of Iron Will and Determination:

Her iron will and determination make her look ‘fiend-like’, a monster of cruelty or ‘fourth witch’ who instigated her husband to murder the king Duncan. Lady Macbeth wished to win the maximum success through her husband’s  achievements and failed, now she began to compromise with frustration as each day passed by. That is why, she deliberately chooses evil, her choice is firm and poignant.

In Act I, Sc V, when we first see Lady Macbeth in the play, she enters her room in the Castle of Inverness, reading a letter, the opening line of which includes the word ‘success’ which works in the head of Macbeth as well as Lady Macbeth. Surprisingly, she was praying to be filled with ‘direst cruelty’ from the crown to the toe by saying –

“Come thick Night, 

  And palk thee in the dunnest smoke of Hell, 

  That my keen knife ser not the wound it makes

  Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 

  To cry, ‘Hold, hold!”

With each passing day, Lady Macbeth runs towards her own destructions, making all her nerves strained and jaded with a single aim of chalking out Duncan’s murder, even she wished to take the dagger up and murder him, ‘had he not resembled my father!’. Whenever, Macbeth began to think of being loyal to the King Duncan who had honoured him so far, Lady Macbeth incited him to execute the act of murdering Duncan to justify the prophecies of the three weird sisters. 

◇ Lady Macbeth, a lady of sound practical sense:

With admirable courage and determination,  she takes upon herself the direction of affairs, and arranges all practical details for the commission of the murder. Lady Macbeth, no doubt, is a plotter, a mean designing lady, who can go to any extent to make her dream fulfilled and she becomes successful in waking up the serpent under the loyal bosom of Macbeth who immediately after announces:  

“I am settled, and bend up

    Each corporeal agent to this terrible feat, 

    Away, and mock the time with fairest show:

   False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

Lady Macbeth begins to yield to neuroticism gradually, she puts unbearable stress on her already weak nerves and compels Macbeth to go to Duncan’s chamber after his dinner. Even, she says that holding the dagger firm is just a child’s play fir her. She waits with bated breath till the murder gets committed by her husband. She has done all that she could do to expedite and smoothen the deed which would otherwise leave Macbeth breathless. 

◇ The effect of disillusionment on Lady Macbeth:

The impact of the murder of King Duncan is so much that Macbeth who murders Duncan in his sleep, actually murders his soothing sleep. In fact, Macbeth murders his wife’s sleep too, as Lady Macbeth turns into a somnambulist ultimately. In her somnambulism, Lady Macbeth, later, kept on uttering that these blasted strains could never to be got rid of! But Lady Macbeth still acts smart, feigning extreme boldness in the Banquet Scene where she restores the situation when Macbeth has been completely shattered by the thoughts of Banquo. 

In Act V, Sc I, Lady Macbeth is seen to walk in her sleep. She holds a light in her hand while walking in her sleep. Her conscious and unconscious get merged in the perturbed state of sleep, hence, she keeps muttering the words related to the murder of Duncan, which sapped all the energies sha had, leaving her in a sorry plight, where memory kept swinging helplessly, rather indiscriminately between the past and the present, the bad deed and its impact. 

Lady Macbeth, is no doubt, a ‘she-devil’ whose evil deeds tell upon her state of mind, which goes disarrayed, unhinged, expediting her end – ill-timed, unfortunate, disrespectful. Of course, Macbeth laments cogently on hearing the demise of Lady Macbeth. The philosophical realization dawns on Macbeth as his ‘yesterday’ had been tormented by Lady Macbeth’s fomentations, and her goading him on to commit a heinous deed, which leaves his life topsy-turvy. And, yet she can not escape the fire she lights herself. She gets consigned to the flame of her devilry.

So, rightly, Macbeth mourns after the end of Lady Macbeth:    

“Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, 

     That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 

      And then is heard no more….. “

◇ Conclusion:

At the end we can feel the signs of Lady Macbeth. Her sighs are dreadful. Almost at the close of the play, we learn that she has committed suicide. Shakespeare has made us pity her, evil though she is.

 Frequently Asked Questions on Character of Lady Macbeth:

* how is lady macbeth presented in act i, sc v.

Ans : The Act I, Sc V is laid in Macbeth’s castle in Inverness. As the curtain rises, Lady Macbeth is seen reading a letter which she has just received from Macbeth and in which he has informed Lady Macbeth of the prophecy of the witches. The Scene presents Lady Macbeth as a woman of iron will and determination. She thinks that nothing can stand in the way to fulfill the prophesies of the witches. 

* How is Lady Macbeth presented at the end of the play?

Ans : In Act V, Sc I where the famous sleep walking scene takes place. It takes place in Macbeth’s castle at Dunsinane. Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep carrying a light in her hand, her eyes are open but she can not see. She constantly rubs her hand, as if she is trying to wash something. From her words it is clear that there is strain caused by the murder of Duncan. A sense of guilt has tormented Lady Macbeth much. She is seen raving due to the excessive mental agitation and tension. 

* How far Lady Macbeth is responsible for Macbeth’s downfall?

Ans: Lady Macbeth, the wife of Macbeth and later the Queen of Scotland, has been referred as the ‘fourth witch’ for it is she who incites Macbeth to overcome his hesitation and drives him to commit the murder of King Duncan. She is ruthless in the pursuit of her will and, but for her, Duncan would never have been murdered. Though she can not be fully responsible for Macbeth’s downfall because there is already an evil inclination in Macbeth and it is Lady Macbeth who only supplant water on it.

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Tutor Hunt Resources English Resources

Sample Gcse Essay About Lady Macbeth As A Powerful Character

Date : 03/10/2017

Author Information

Uploaded by : Rahul Uploaded on : 03/10/2017 Subject : English

This article contains a mock essay written by one of my students. When I met him, he was scoring a 3 to 4 in his mock GSCE English language and literature exams.

This resource was uploaded by: Rahul

Other articles by this author

Relationship

Macbeth - loving and submissive husband.

In Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship, Macbeth seems kinder and more caring, whereas Lady Macbeth appears to have more control.

Significance of the letter

• It is interesting that he seems to treat her more equally – this could suggest that he either cares about her, or he values her opinion. Perhaps she has helped him with decisions in the past?
• It might give the audience a clue about why he lets her influence him in the way that she does at the start of the play. Many men would not talk such things with their wives.

Structure of Act 1, Scene 5

• Macbeth uses loving language towards his wife, 'My dearest love' .
• Lady Macbeth greets him by flattering his status, 'Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor' .
• He seems the more caring of the two here.
• Lady Macbeth decides the plan for them. Macbeth tells her they will speak later, but Lady Macbeth seems to interrupt him.
• This makes us question things about his character – is he desperately in love with her and keen to please? Or is he really weak mentally?

Pleasing his wife?

• In Macbeth’s soliloquy (speech to himself), when he sees the vision of the dagger before him, he thinks of many reasons why he shouldn't act on his ambition but seems to deny all these fears because of his wife.
• Does he go ahead with the plan to kill the king to please his wife?

Lady Macbeth's Treatment of Macbeth

Lady Macbeth seems to view Macbeth as weak and controls him accordingly.

• Lady Macbeth thinks that Macbeth is too nice to go for the things that he truly wants, such as the crown: 'I fear thy nature, / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way' (1,5).
• Shakespeare uses this metaphor to suggest that Macbeth is a good man. But milk, a substance that mothers make to feed to their young, might also suggest that Lady Macbeth sees his kindness as weakness.
• In this way, as is the case with many Shakespearian plays, the male character seems to have more stereotypically feminine traits (i.e. Macbeth seems kinder and more caring, whereas Lady Macbeth appears to have more control).

Pressurising

• Macbeth is very torn about whether he should kill the king or not. He decides not to go on because he does not think ambition alone is a good enough reason to want the crown.
• But his wife quickly persuades him to continue with the plan. This suggests that she has power over her husband.
• It seems that one of the key things holding him back is fear of people retaliating. He addresses this at the beginning of his speech in Act 1, Scene 7. Later on in the scene, he asks Lady Macbeth what would happen if they fail. She says that if he is brave, they won't fail: 'But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we'll not fail' (1,7).

• When Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost, Lady Macbeth asks him, 'Are you a man?' (3,4).
• This suggests that a lack of courage makes him less of a man.
• People often saw mental disturbances as a female problem.

Macbeth's Changing Relationship

Macbeth seems to become more distant from his wife as the play progresses.

Banquo's murder

• Lady Macbeth was the key motivator behind the murder of King Duncan. But Macbeth doesn't even discuss his plan to kill Banquo.
• He tells her it is better that she doesn't know: 'Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck' (3,2).
• Perhaps he wants to save her the suffering that he feels: 'O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!' (3,2).
• It seems he has taken control and there has been a power shift in their relationship.

Effect of murdering Duncan

• Lady Macbeth almost bullies Macbeth throughout the first two acts of the play, insisting that if he does not murder King Duncan, then he is not a real man.
• When he finally does murder the king and his personality changes, his relationship with his wife does change – he begins to take control, perhaps believing that the more power he gains, the more his wife will respect him.

1 Literary & Cultural Context

1.1 Context

1.1.1 Tragedy

1.1.2 The Supernatural & Gender

1.1.3 Politics & Monarchy

1.1.4 End of Topic Test - Context

2 Plot Summary

2.1.1 Scenes 1 & 2

2.1.2 Scene 3

2.1.3 Scenes 4-5

2.1.4 Scenes 6-7

2.1.5 End of Topic Test - Act 1

2.2 Acts 2-4

2.2.1 Act 2

2.2.2 Act 3

2.2.3 Act 4

2.3.1 Scenes 1-3

2.3.2 Scenes 4-9

2.3.3 End of Topic Test - Acts 2-5

3 Characters

3.1 Macbeth

3.1.1 Hero vs Villain

3.1.2 Ambition & Fate

3.1.3 Relationship

3.1.4 Unstable

3.1.5 End of Topic Test - Macbeth

3.2 Lady Macbeth

3.2.1 Masculine & Ruthless

3.2.2 Manipulative & Disturbed

3.3 Other Characters

3.3.1 Banquo

3.3.2 The Witches

3.3.3 Exam-Style Questions - The Witches

3.3.4 King Duncan

3.3.5 Macduff

3.3.6 End of Topic Test - Lady Macbeth & Banquo

3.3.7 End of Topic Test - Witches, Duncan & Macduff

3.4 Grade 9 - Key Characters

3.4.1 Grade 9 - Lady Macbeth Questions

4.1.1 Power & Ambition

4.1.2 Power & Ambition HyperLearning

4.1.3 Violence

4.1.4 The Supernatural

4.1.5 Masculinity

4.1.6 Armour, Kingship & The Natural Order

4.1.7 Appearances & Deception

4.1.8 Madness & Blood

4.1.9 Women, Children & Sleep

4.1.10 End of Topic Test - Themes

4.1.11 End of Topic Test - Themes 2

4.2 Grade 9 - Themes

4.2.1 Grade 9 - Themes

4.2.2 Extract Analysis

5 Writer's Techniques

5.1 Structure, Meter & Other Literary Techniques

5.1.1 Structure, Meter & Dramatic Irony

5.1.2 Pathetic Fallacy & Symbolism

5.1.3 End of Topic Test - Writer's Techniques

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How Lady Macbeth changes throughout the play

                                                                  Shakespeare GCSE Coursework

                                                    How Lady Macbeth changes throughout the play                        

In Elizabethan times, Lady Macbeth would most definately have made a big impression to an audience watching this performance. The women who lived when Elizabeth I was on the throne were to keep a healthy family or to substain the well-being of a wealthy man. Lady Macbeth on the other hand was a woman of power, a bit like Elizabeth, or so it seemed........

We first meet Lady Macbeth in Act 1 scene 5 where she reads the letter she has recently recieved from Macbeth. It is immediately obvious that the couple are close. Macbeth addresses Lady Macbeth as

'my dearest partner of greatness' referring that they share their successes and do everything together. He says

'........what greatness is promised thee.' which shows that he is willing to share the things they are promised by the witches.

  As soon as Lady Macbeth hears about the riches that the witches had forseen, she says  

'Glamis thou art and Cawdor and shalt be/what thou art promised'  There is no doubt about it, Macbeth WILL be King. She doesnt ponder on what Macbeth might say or how it will be done, she knows that Macbeth can and will be King.

  When she hears that the current king, Duncan will be coming to their castle that evening, her first instincts are to kill him as she says to herself in Act 1 sc 5;

'..........The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan......' (The raven croaking above a house was the sign that death was near.) This line makes Lady Macbeth seem a very murderous character.Although Lady Macbeth has made her mind up, she is also very worried that she cant do the deed without Macbeth's help. Lady Macbeth believes that he is ‘too full of the milk of human kindness’ to commit the murder and become king. She says that he is, ‘not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it;’ in which Shakespeare shows this contrast between herself and Macbeth and her belief that he is weak and not evil enough to make the most of his ambition. So Lady Macbeth does the most she can by inviting the evil spirits to enter her. She says  

'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;' Here she is saying that she wants all the spirits to come and take away all the traces of her femininity and make her as mentally strong as a man so that no kind feelings can get through and prevent her from murdering Duncan.This sounds like she is casting a spell and her language is black and witch-like as she calls on the spirits. Also what she is demanding - having her femininity and conscience removed - is completely unnatural and this is how the witches are seen by the audience.

  In this scene, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a strong-willed, determined character. She is very ruthless and ambitious, and knows what she wants.

 When Macbeth arrives,  Lady Macbeth congradulates him on what the witches have forseen...maybe she isnt as bad as she seems... She then gets straight to the point. '....The future is instant' She is carried away with delight, and what has been promised has become real and actual to her. She doesnt hesitate to tell Macbeth her plans, so it shows that she isnt worried by what Macbeth might say and trusts him completely. She is also seen as the most dominant of the two, as she is the first to speak when he arrives, and doesn't let him speak until she has told him her plans. Lady Macbeth's 'And when goes hence?' can be interpreted in many ways, but it is most likely that Shakespeare has her trying to discover Macbeth's feelings and whether he is plotting to kill Duncan without actually asking him. Once Macbeth has given her the answer she does not want she makes it quite clear to him what she intends to do. Instead of saying, 'The sun may never see that morrow' she states it as a fact that Duncan will not survive the night, which makes it very difficult for Macbeth to disagree with her. She then says,  

This is a preview of the whole essay

'look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't.' which is an example of the recurring theme of the difference between appearance and reality. Again she makes it difficult for him to disagree by telling him to do something rather than suggesting it or asking. She is acting to move events forward as quickly as possible and now she has made up her mind she will not let anything get in the way of her ambition. She says, 'you shall put / This night's great business into my dispatch;' and when Macbeth tries to suggest that he does not want to go ahead with the scheme and says, 'We will speak further,' she ignores him and says 'leave all the rest to me.' In this scene Shakespeare makes it quite clear that she is in control of her husband and the situation and shows more of the strength of her character. It also seems that Macbeth may be a bit afraid of Lady Macbeth when she says 'We will speak further', he doesnt answer back or say what he thinks but instead puts the conversation off.                                    

  Lady Macbeth finishes with the line   'Leave all the rest to me' suggesting that he should step aside and let her deal with the rest in case he ruins her plans. She is definately the more dominant character, and seems a very strong woman to take the role that the man usually plays.

When Lady Macbeth greets Duncan as he arrives in her castle, she acts very welcoming and promises Duncan that the people of her castle remain nothing but people who can pray for him, for they can not pay him in any other way, as shown in Act 1 sc 6; 'We rest your hermits'. She uses this act to cover up her feelings, mind you without Macbeth, Lady Macbeth wouldnt be feeling this way. Lady Macbeth is planning the murder for their benifit and not just hers. Like in the letter, she still feels they work together for each other (Although she is taking the deed into her own hands)    

 Lady Macbeth seems much more kind and sweet in this scene, compared to how she was in scene 5.

In act 1 sc 7, Lady Macbeth is seen in a new light. She spends most of the scene trying to pursuade Macbeth to agree with her plans. The most reasonable explanation for this behaviour is that now she has met Duncan along with his fellow Lords and all that are there with him, and realised what a kind character he is, some of the evil has drained out of her and she is now realising what she is going to have to do in order to get the crown for her husband, seeing as she is taking it into her own hands.

  Once Macbeth has decided in his soliloquy not to kill Duncan, he tries to be assertive in communicating this to Lady Macbeth and says, ‘We will proceed no further in this business.’ However she scorns him, suggests he is a coward and undermines his manliness. She says,

‘Woulds’t thou have that … (you) live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would”?’ and, ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man;/And, to be more than you were, you would/Be so much more the man.'      

  Lady Macbeth is trying to convince Macbeth that the murder can be done. Here, her attitude has changed completely from where she first told Macbeth that the murder was going to happen. Macbeth is hailed by Duncan as 'Worthy Macbeth' and is obviously seen to have manly qualities such as bravery, but this does not satisfy Lady Macbeth whose vision of manliness involves putting ambition first and doing everything possible to make ambition reality. As a woman in this society she is expected to be gentle and fade into the background behind her husband and so any power she can have must be through Macbeth and the knowledge of this is what drives her to her dominance over him in private. Macbeth knows what her view of a man is and that he has to satisfy it and so Lady Macbeth manages to manipulate him by suggesting that he is not a man in her eyes.  

  Lady Macbeth is a very pursuasive character, and is obviously very impressionable because the murder does take place in the end.

With all the panic and desperate excitement of the murder, Lady Macbeth still seems to be in control. It isnt actually Lady Macbeth who drives Macbeth to commit the dreadful crime, Macbeth has visions as he is walking about the castle in the dark. The dagger he sees before him leads the way to the King.

  After the murder, Macbeth appears shocked and afraid. Lady Macbeth comforts him and assures him he has done well. Lady Macbeth was really there as the power of the plan. She told Macbeth what to do, and he reported back to her when he had completed the task. The result was to share between them, so they worked together. Lady Macbeth although she seems evil, is actually a loving wife. She cares what Macbeth feels after he has killed Duncan, and stays with him as he washes his hands, instead of leaving to go to bed. They go together. Shakespeare has portrayed the two of them to be totally dependent upon one another and to complement each other perfectly.

  After the murder of Duncan has been committed, it is Lady Macbeth who tries to convince the remorseful and ashamed Macbeth that 'what's done cannot be undone' and that there is no need to feel guilt. She says,

‘These deeds must not be thought/After these ways; so it will make us mad.’

She is uneasy and tense and is worried when Macbeth says that he thinks he has heard voices but she hides this concern and takes control of the situation, trying once again to spur Macbeth on and taunt him with suggestions that he is weak and unmanly. She says, ‘You do unbend your noble strength to think/So brainsickly of things’ and calls him ‘infirm of purpose’.

  It is vital that one of them remains in control and even though she is anxious herself, it is Lady Macbeth. She is the collected one of the pair and the one able to conceal her feelings and keep her calm.

The first turning point of the relationship comes in Act Two Scene Two when Lady Macbeth asks Macbeth to do the deed of killing Duncan. She says, ‘Had he not resembled/my father as he slept, I had done’t.’. This is the first indication Shakespeare gives that Lady Macbeth has a conscience and is not pure evil.

The morning after the murder, Lady Macbeth performs her eye-catching faint. This is either because she is actually quite nervous now that everyone has found out that the king has been brutally murdered, and is finding all the accusations quite hard to take in or is trying to get the attention on her. She may think that Macbeth might say something, and that the people around him will see through him and find out who actually killed the king.While Macbeth is talking so much, Lady Macbeth is almost silent. It is possible that she is trying to assume the expected role as the lady of the house and therefore tries to be ladylike and gentle, but it could also be interpreted that Shakespeare is showing her to be uneasy about the murder and the beginning of a reversal of the roles of herself and Macbeth as he takes over. I think its a genuine faint, because ever since the king arrived, Lady Macbeth seemed to get weaker, especially as she pictured her father after the murder of Duncan.

Now that Macbeth is king, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth seem to be drifting further apart. The breakdown in communication between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is illustrated in Act Three Scene Two where Lady Macbeth has to ask permission to speak to her own husband. She says to a servant, ‘Say to the king, I would attend his leisure/For a few words.’ This formality is probably partly due to Macbeth’s rise to th throne, but this and the impersonal use of ‘the king’ rather than ‘my husband’ or his name suggest a drift between the two characters. In Lady Macbeth's four line soliliquy, she says; 'Nought's had, all's spent/Where our desire is got without content'

Here she is saying that nothing is gained, everything is lost when what they had wished for was brought without hapiness. She is basically saying that she is not content with what is going on between her and Macbeth. They are drifting apart and she knows it, although he may not. She still supports him; She says, ‘Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight:’ and tries to be cheerful herself. Macbeth is seeing himself to be superior to her. He says, ‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,’ which is an example of the patronising language he is beginning to use. Macbeth speaks far more than Lady Macbeth in this conversation and is certainly becoming more dominant which shows a role-reversal from previous scenes where she has dominated him.

Lady Macbeth really shows her caring side at the banquet, when Banquo's ghost arrives. As soon as Macbeth starts seeing Banquo in his place, Lady Macbeth reassures the guests that Macbeth is having a fit and that he has been having them since he was a child; 'The fit is momentary.....' Even though she doesnt really know whats happening, and what he is really seeing, she still supports him. She knows that their marriage is breaking down, but she doesnt hesitate to help him out and avoid embarrassment, because she still loves him and hopes for their marriage to continue.

  Lady Macbeth is suddenly portayed as a more caring character-a major comparison to when she was inviting the evil spirits to enter her, in Act1 sc 5. She notices that he hasn't his full strength here, so slips in a word or two to get him to his feet. She knows that her pursuasion was successful before the murder, so she uses it here. 'Are you a man?' she demands. He says he is and she replys; 'O proper stuff!' in other words, Rubbish! Lady Macbeth talks more than she usually had in this scene. Its mainly because Macbeth is so weak that he can't reply so strongly. The ghost finally disappears, and Lady Macbeth orders the guests to leave so that Macbeth has space and time to recover. She has been quite motherly in this scene, as though she has got her old Macbeth back at last, and its the only time that the two of them have a reasonable conversation together after he became king.

Lady Macbeth starts to lose her mind in Act 5 sc 1 when she sleepwalks while being observed by the doctor and gentlewoman. In this later scene, Lady Macbeth has lost all of her control and this is immediately shown by the breakdown of her sentence structure. She is speaking in prose rather than verse and the sentences and ideas do not appear to be linked. For example she says,  'Out, damned spot! out I say! One; two; why then ‘tis/time to do’t. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier/and afeard?’ She seems to be hallucinating and is obsessed with blood and washing her hands (of guilt). It appears that she feels guilty for all of the murders that have taken place even though it was Macbeth and not her who committed them. She refers to the scenes after the murder was committed, and we suddenly realise that she wasn't all that evil, as these memories have stuck in her mind, and must have affected her in some way. We were thinking that Lady Macbeth was heartless to have murdered a living being, and not felt too ashamed, but all along she was hiding her guilt and trying to act strong. Without Macbeth she can have no power and her ambition for him made her the strong woman she was. Gaining power for Macbeth was the meaning of her life and what she dedicated her whole life to. Now she and Macbeth are distant, she is powerless, has no reason to be strong and has lost the meaning of her life, which has led to her breaking down.

  Now that her marriage was breaking in two, Lady Macbeth was having all these nightmares of all the things that she had done with Macbeth and the fact that they were her fault when they weren't.

  Lady Macbeth is a very loyal character seeing as even though she drove herself to this madness, she has always stood next to Macbeth and protected him, and know she's blaming herself for all the things that he has done. She loves him so much, and this is shown in all scenes, but especially in this one.

Lady Macbeth is finally driven to taking her own life by the confusion and heartbreak that is caused.

Malcolm refers to her as a 'fiend-like queen' This tells us that although she tried so hard to convince people that she was a harmless quiet woman, her power showed through. I don't think fiend-like is a good description of her, as she was only trying to find power for her husband in the first place.

Lady Macbeth’s madness shows how incomplete she is without him by her side and I think that he is also incomplete without her. In the beginning of the play Shakespeare shows how well they work together, how they complement each other’s characters and how much he needs her. Although he believes he can work alone, once she is dead it is inevitable that surely he must die too. Much of the play shows events turning full-circle and so because she fell from being a strong character and he now appears to be the strong one, he too must be expected to fall. I believe that the breakdown in communication and distance between the Macbeths is a significant cause of the tragic ending to the play as each of them is one of a pair and when the pair is broken neither of them can function properly or cope alone.

You can see at the beginning of the play, that Lady Macbeth is very close to her husband and wishes for them each to share their success together, but her character completely changes through the play. At the start, she is a single-minded, strong character and uses strong, clear,emphatic language. Definately the stronger of the two, her ideas are focused unlike Macbeth.

  She has a very masculine side to her character in some ways. She bemoans the fact that she is a woman; 'unsex me here...' and wishes for 'direst cruelty' to help her towards her goal.

  Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth isnt very strong minded so she is very critical of him all the way through the play, but not nastily. She treats him like a child as if its a motherly instinct she has picked up, which shows her more feminine side, and helps Macbeth murder Duncan for ambition and for her husband instead of just for her.

  Lady Macbeth is also a good actress, welcoming Duncan and concealing her feelings. Most importantly, she is always in control.

  After the murder, her character starts to change, becoming tense and uneasy, as if she has finally realised what her ambition has done. Once Macbeth is King, Lady Macbeth starts to adopt a less dominant role as if she has swapped roles with her husband.Her language reflects this when she asks to speak to Macbeth instead of just walking in on his privacy. She seems a little unsure of herself and has doubts about their relationship. She is still supportive though, as shown when Macbeth sees Banquos ghost at the banquet. She still seems anxious as she makes excuses for his behaviour, saying he has had fits like this ever since he was young.

  Lady Macbeth is more caring towards Macbeth through this scene, but still taunts him about his masculinity. Her character starts to deteriorate with the sleepwalking scene and she begins to lose her reason, with disjointed ideas and speech. She is apparently now haunted by guilt where before she was prepared to commit murder. She may be afraid that Macbeth doesn't need her and this adds to her insecurity. Now that her ambition fo her husband has been forfilled, she feels unwanted and alone. She is in effect incomplete without him, and drives herself to suicide.  

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‘Macbeth’ Grade 9 Example Response

Grade 9 – full mark – ‘Macbeth’ response

Starting with this extract (from act 1 scene 7), how does Shakespeare present the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?

In Shakespeare’s eponymous tragedy ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship is a complex portrait of love, illustrating layers of utter devotion alongside overwhelming resentment. Though the couple begins the play unnaturally strong within their marriage, this seems to act as an early warning of their imminent and inevitable fall from grace, ending the play in an almost entirely different relationship than the one they began the play with.

In the exposition of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth initially appear immensely strong within their marriage, with Macbeth describing his wife as ‘my dearest partner of greatness’ in act 1 scene 5. The emotive superlative adjective ‘dearest’ is a term of endearment, and acts as a clear depiction of how valued Lady Macbeth is by her husband. Secondly, the noun ‘partner’ creates a sense of sincere equality which, as equality within marriage would have been unusual in the Jacobean era, illustrates to a contemporary audience the positive aspects of their relationship. Furthermore the lexical choice ‘greatness’ may connote ambition, and as they are ‘partner(s)’, Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are equal in their desire for power and control, further confirming their compatibility but potentially hinting that said compatibility will serve as the couple’s hamartia.

However, the strength of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship falls into a rapid downward spiral in the subsequent scenes, as a struggle for power within the marriage ensues. This is evidenced when Macbeth, in act 1 scene 7, uses the declarative statement ‘we will proceed no further in this business’. Here, Macbeth seems to exude masculinity, embracing his gender role and dictating both his and his wife’s decisions. The negation ‘no’ clearly indicates his alleged definitive attitude. However, Lady Macbeth refuses to accept her husband’s rule, stating ‘when you durst do it, then you were a man’. She attempts to emasculate him to see their plan through. The verb ‘durst’ illustrates the risk taking behaviour that Lady Macbeth is encouraging; implying an element of toxicity within their relationship, and her harsh speech makes the cracks in their relationship further visible to the audience. It is also probable that a contemporary audience would be made severely uncomfortable in the presence of Lady Macbeth’s unapologetic display of power, and it is possible that Shakespeare attempts to paint Lady Macbeth as the villain of the play, playing upon the audience’s pre-determined fears of feminine power. Though Lady Macbeth appears to be acting entirely out of self-interest, another reader may argue that she influences her husband so heavily to commit the heinous act of regicide, as she believes that he crown may as a substitute for the child or children that Shakespeare suggests she and Macbeth have lost previously, and in turn better Macbeth’s life and bring him to the same happiness that came with the child, except in another form.

As the play progresses, Shakespeare creates more and more distance between the characters, portraying the breakdown of their relationship as gradual within the play but rapid in the overall sense of time on stage. For example, Lady Macbeth requests a servant ‘say to the king’ Lady Macbeth ‘would attend his leisure/ for a few words’. Here she is reduced to the status of someone far lesser than the king, having to request to speak to her own husband. It could be interpreted that, now as king, Macbeth holds himself above all else, even his wife, perhaps due to the belief of the divine right of kings. The use of the title rather than his name plainly indicated the lack of closeness Lady Macbeth now feels with Macbeth and intensely emotionally separates them. This same idea is referenced as Shakespeare develops the characters to almost juxtapose each other in their experiences after the murder of Duncan. For example, Macbeth seems to be trapped in a permanent day, after ‘Macbeth does murder sleep’ and his guilt and paranoia render him unable to rest. In contrast, Lady Macbeth takes on an oppositional path, suffering sleepwalking and unable to wake from her nightmare; repeating the phrase ‘to bed. To bed’ as if trapped in a never-ending night. This illustrates to the audience the extreme transformation Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship undergoes, and how differently they end up experiencing the aftermath of regicide.

In conclusion, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begin the play almost too comfortable within their marriage, which seems to invite the presence of chaos and tragedy into their relationship. Their moral compositions are opposing one another, which leads to the distancing and total breakdown of their once successful marriage and thus serves as a warning to the audience about the effects of murder, and what the deadly sin of greed can do to a person and a marriage.

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gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

Secondary English teacher in Herts. View all posts by gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

9 thoughts on “‘Macbeth’ Grade 9 Example Response”

wheres the context

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It is also probable that a contemporary audience would be made severely uncomfortable in the presence of Lady Macbeth’s unapologetic display of power, and it is possible that Shakespeare attempts to paint Lady Macbeth as the villain of the play, playing upon the audience’s pre-determined fears of feminine power.

Also ref to ‘divine right of kings’

Thank you! This is a brilliant response. Just what I needed. Could you also please include the extract in the question.

We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon.

—> until end of scene

She did (Act 1 Scene 7)

Another great resource for grade 9 Macbeth analysis https://youtu.be/bGzLDRX71bs

In order to get a grade 9 for a piece like this would you need to include a wide range of vocabulary or could you write the same thing ‘dumbed down’ and get a 9.

If the ideas were as strong then yes, but your writing must AT LEAST be ‘clear’ for a grade 6 or above.

This is really great, I’m in Year 10 doing my Mock on Thursday, a great point that i have found (because I also take history) Is the depiction of women throughout the play, during the Elizabethan era, (before the Jacobean era) many people had a changed view of women as Queen Elizabeth was such a powerful woman, glimpses of this have been shown in Jacobean plays, in this case Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is depicted as powerful although she had to be killed of to please King James (as he was a misogynist) women are also depicted as evil in the play, such as the three witches, I also found that the Witches are in three which could be a mockery to the Holy Trinity.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Macbeth — How Does Shakespeare Present Lady Macbeth as Evil and Cunning

How Does Shakespeare Present Lady Macbeth as Evil and Cunning

• Categories: Macbeth William Shakespeare

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Words: 683 |

Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 683 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Lady Macbeth - a Manipulative Evil-doer

• Levin, J. (2002). Lady Macbeth and the daemonologie of hysteria. Elh, 69(1), 21-55. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/30032010)
• Munro, R. (1887). Lady Macbeth: a psychological sketch. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 21(1), 30-36. (https://philpapers.org/rec/MUNLMA)
• Islam, M. S. (2010). Nature of Evil in Macbeth. Arts Faculty Journal, 185-194. (https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/AFJ/article/view/12940)
• Draper, J. W. (1941). Lady Macbeth. Psychoanalytic Review, 28(4), 479-486. (https://pep-web.org/browse/document/PSAR.028.0479A)
• Desmond, W. (2018). Sticky Evil: Macbeth and the Karma of the Equivocal. In God, literature and process thought (pp. 133-156). Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351009928-10/sticky-evil-macbeth-karma-equivocal-william-desmond)

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Provides a foundational overview, outlining the historical context and introducing key information that will be further explored in the essay, setting the stage for the argument to follow.

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

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Macbeth – A* / L9 Full Mark Example Essay

This is an A* / L9 full mark example essay on Macbeth completed by a 15-year-old student in timed conditions (50 mins writing, 10 mins planning).

It contained a few minor spelling and grammatical errors – but the quality of analysis overall was very high so this didn’t affect the grade. It is extremely good on form and structure, and perhaps could do with more language analysis of poetic and grammatical devices; as the quality of thought and interpretation is so high this again did not impede the overall mark. 

Thanks for reading! If you find this resource useful, you can take a look at our full online Macbeth course here . Use the code “SHAKESPEARE” to receive a 50% discount!

This course includes: 

• A full set of video lessons on each key element of the text: summary, themes, setting, characters, context, attitudes, analysis of key quotes, essay questions, essay examples
• Downloadable documents for each video lesson 
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• A bonus Macbeth workbook designed to guide you through each scene of the play!

For more help with Macbeth and Tragedy, read our article here .

MACBETH EXAMPLE ESSAY:

Macbeth’s ambition for status and power grows throughout the play. Shakespeare uses Macbeth as an embodiment of greed and asks the audience to question their own actions through the use of his wrongful deeds.

In the extract, Macbeth is demonstrated to possess some ambition but with overriding morals, when writing to his wife about the prophecies, Lady Macbeth uses metaphors to describe his kind hearted nature: “yet I do fear thy nature, / It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness”. Here, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a more gentle natured being who is loyal to his king and country. However, the very act of writing the letter demonstrates his inklings of desire, and ambition to take the throne. Perhaps, Shakespeare is aiming to ask the audience about their own thoughts, and whether they would be willing to commit heinous deeds for power and control. 

Furthermore, the extract presents Macbeth’s indecisive tone when thinking of the murder – he doesn’t want to kill Duncan but knows it’s the only way to the throne. Lady Macbeth says she might need to interfere in order to persuade him; his ambition isn’t strong enough yet: “That I may pour my spirits in  thine ear / And chastise with the valour of my tongue”. Here, Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as a manipulative character, conveying she will seduce him in order to “sway “ his mind into killing Duncan. The very need for her persuasion insinuates Macbeth is still weighing up the consequences in his head, his ambition equal with his morality. It would be shocking for the audience to see a female character act in this authoritative way. Lady Macbeth not only holds control of her husband in a patriarchal society but the stage too, speaking in iambic pentameter to portray her status: “To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great”. It is interesting that Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth in this way; she has more ambition for power than her husband at this part of play. 

As the play progresses, in Act 3, Macbeth’s ambition has grown and now kills with ease. He sends three murders to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, as the witches predicted that he may have heirs to the throne which could end his reign. Macbeth is suspicious in this act, hiding his true intentions from his dearest companion and his wife: “I wish your horses swift and sure on foot” and “and make our faces vizards to our hearts”. There, we see, as an audience, Macbeth’s longing to remain King much stronger than his initial attitudes towards the throne He was toying with the idea of killing for the throne and now he is killing those that could interfere with his rule without a second thought. It is interesting that Shakespeare presents him this way, as though he is ignoring his morals or that they have been “numbed” by his ambition. Similarly to his wife in the first act, Macbeth also speaks in pentameter to illustrate his increase in power and dominance. 

In Act 4, his ambition and dependence on power has grown even more. When speaking with the witches about the three apparitions, he uses imperatives to portray his newly adopted controlling nature: “I conjure you” and “answer me”. Here, the use of his aggressive demanding demonstrates his reliance on the throne and his need for security. By the Witches showing him the apparitions and predicting his future, he gains a sense of superiority, believing he is safe and protected from everything. Shakespeare also lengthens Macbeth’s speech in front of the Witches in comparison to Act 1 to show his power and ambition has given him confidence, confidence to speak up to the “filthy nags” and expresses his desires. Although it would be easy to infer Macbeth’s greed and ambition has grown from his power-hungry nature, a more compassionate reading of Macbeth demonstrates the pressure he feels as a Jacobean man and soldier. Perhaps he feels he has to constantly strive for more to impress those around him or instead he may want to be king to feel more worthy and possibly less insecure. 

It would be unusual to see a Jacobean citizen approaching an “embodiment” of the supernatural as forming alliance with them was forbidden and frowned upon. Perhaps Shakespeare uses Macbeth to defy these stereotypical views to show that there is a supernatural, a more dark side in us all and it is up to our own decisions whereas we act on these impulses to do what is morally incorrect. 

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