Lady Macbeth Notes

Lady Macbeth is the real villain in ‘Macbeth’

• She was one of the things that persuaded Macbeth. Things were -Lady Macbeth -Apparitions/witches -Ambition

• She starts of evil but in the end her conscience drives her insane -sleepwalking -suicide at the end of the text

Lady Macbeth

How does she behave?
Assertive

What does she do?
Convinces Macbeth through emotional blackmail and attacks his masculinity

How do we feel about her?
Horrified, disgusted, intimidated

How does Shakespeare ‘manage’ our response to her?
Puts words in her mouth

Character Analysis:

Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. Interestingly, she and Macbeth are presented as being deeply in love, and many of Lady Macbeth’s speeches imply that her influence over her husband is primarily sexual. Their joint alienation from the world, occasioned by their partnership in crime, seems to strengthen the attachment that they feel to each another.

|Lady Macbeth is the real villian |Is not |
| | |
|She convinces Macbeth to go through with the murders |She is just a catalyst after the first murder Macbeth goes mad with |
|Comes up with the plan to kill King Duncan |power |
|Says if she was a man she