How Does Shakespeare Make Lady Macbeth's Character Dramatic and Interesting?
How does Shakespeare make Lady Macbeth’s Character dramatic and interesting?
Shakespeare makes Lady Macbeth more dramatic and interesting by making her seem unlike the average woman of the Elizabethan era and giving her the opinion that she is physically and mentally stronger than Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth claims that Macbeth doesn’t know what he is talking about and that he was acting as if he was drunk when they agreed to the murder, and as such she is insulting his intelligence and loyalty. “Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?” This shows that once Macbeth had changed his mind, and Lady Macbeth didn’t like it, she was capable of insulting his self-belief and generally degrading him hoping to make him feel weak and powerless.
This would have shocked an Elizabethan audience because of her lack of respect and loyalty to her husband which would have been very unusual and frowned upon by the people of the era.
Lady Macbeth also implies that Macbeth has made his decision and must stay bound to it at any cost or lose his honour. Lady Macbeths determination to kill for greed, not only a normal person, but a King would have seemed a very alien opinion for the Elizabethans who also based a lot of opinions of people on how honourable they were. Her determination to uphold her honour and loyalty is shown by her claiming that if she had promised so, she would kill her own newborn child, this is shown in phrases like “I would while it was smiling in my face” and “dashed the brains out, had I so sworn” by Lady Macbeth.
This shows Lady Macbeth to be a ruthless and particularly unstable person who sees death as the only way to further herself and prove a point. On the other hand, it also shows Lady Macbeth to be a very loyal; determined person with a strong personality, which are very redeemable qualities compared with her greedy, power-hungry and insane nature.
Shakespeare also shows how cunning Lady Macbeth is by showing her using flattery towards the
Shakespeare makes Lady Macbeth more dramatic and interesting by making her seem unlike the average woman of the Elizabethan era and giving her the opinion that she is physically and mentally stronger than Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth claims that Macbeth doesn’t know what he is talking about and that he was acting as if he was drunk when they agreed to the murder, and as such she is insulting his intelligence and loyalty. “Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?” This shows that once Macbeth had changed his mind, and Lady Macbeth didn’t like it, she was capable of insulting his self-belief and generally degrading him hoping to make him feel weak and powerless.
This would have shocked an Elizabethan audience because of her lack of respect and loyalty to her husband which would have been very unusual and frowned upon by the people of the era.
Lady Macbeth also implies that Macbeth has made his decision and must stay bound to it at any cost or lose his honour. Lady Macbeths determination to kill for greed, not only a normal person, but a King would have seemed a very alien opinion for the Elizabethans who also based a lot of opinions of people on how honourable they were. Her determination to uphold her honour and loyalty is shown by her claiming that if she had promised so, she would kill her own newborn child, this is shown in phrases like “I would while it was smiling in my face” and “dashed the brains out, had I so sworn” by Lady Macbeth.
This shows Lady Macbeth to be a ruthless and particularly unstable person who sees death as the only way to further herself and prove a point. On the other hand, it also shows Lady Macbeth to be a very loyal; determined person with a strong personality, which are very redeemable qualities compared with her greedy, power-hungry and insane nature.
Shakespeare also shows how cunning Lady Macbeth is by showing her using flattery towards the