How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman?
'Under my battlements'.
Possessive - showing that she feels powerful.
This also suggests that she has power over
Macbeth, but it could also show that she is
delusional form the prospect of power.
In the Middle Ages, women did not have any
power, and they were not allowed to own property.
In Jacobean times, women also did not have any
power, and all of the female parts in plays were
played by men.
The control of power swaps: at the beginning of the
play, Lady Macbeth is the person who wants to fulfil
the prophecies and murder Duncan, but she ends up
going crazy and Macbeth gains power.
'Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts'.
Imperative verbs show how she desires power - and how
she is not afraid of her decision, showing that she is
tenacious and has a strong resolve.
However, Lady Macbeth is calling for spirits, showing that she needs to be given power by another.
'Make thick my blood'.
'Come to my woman's breasts'.
This could infer that she already feels separated from her femininity. She also
asks the spirits to take he 'milk for gall', and is separated from a symbol of
femininity - which is the only weapon that she could have as a woman. The
physical appearance of a woman could secure her future, and it also was used
to judge the fertility of a woman. As it is suggested that Lady Macbeth has lost
a child, this could eb used as a cue for her to be separated from her femininity.
This contradicts how Lady Macbeth was regarded earlier on in the play - as a perfect
housewife. Femininity is her most prominent feature at the beginning of the play,
but it then becomes her alibi. King Duncan calls her 'our honoured hostess' - one of
the jobs of wife in the Middle Ages. By saying 'honoured', it shows that the king (the
closest thing to God, according to the Divine Right of Kings) thinks highly of her.
This conveys how her conformity to stereotypes disguises her plans and true nature
from King Duncan; this enables her to hold power over the men in the play and to
have most of the control for the beginning of the play.