Peter's English Journal

In what ways does Shakespeare control our impressions of LM?

The character of Lady Macbeth is highly developed and is intricate in the complexity of her personality. Shakespeare guides us very strongly about how to interpret Lady Macbeth as most people would have a similar if not the same impression of Lady Macbeth.

The use of dramatic irony is very important and influential in the character of lady Macbeth. There is many scenes where Lady Macbeth will make comments and have monologues behind Macbeth’s back.
‘But I worry about whether or not you have what it takes to seize the crown.’
This quote is when Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth’s letter regarding the witches prophecy. She is saying that Macbeth has potential and ambition but has no evil streak. This shows Lady Macbeth wishing she were in the shoes of Macbeth and could kill the king herself. This really clarifies the evilness that most anticipate to appear in Lady Macbeth. One of the most common aspects of an evil person is someone who talks behind other peoples backs and Lady Macbeth clearly shows this through her dramatic irony and monologues. Also Macbeth not knowing about what Lady Macbeth is saying makes you feel sorry for him and makes you empathise with him; this also means that you begin to dislike lady Macbeth. This method that Shakespeare uses is very clever as it quickly defines the character of Lady Macbeth, and one of the best ways to get someone involved in this story is that having interesting and well known characters. This impression of Lady Macbeth gets even stronger as she manipulates him into doing something that it seems that appears against his character.

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One response to “In what ways does Shakespeare control our impressions of LM?”

  1. Miss Drewett Avatar
    Miss Drewett

    You make some very astute points about Lady Macbeth; especially the fact that she has been constructed in this way by Shakespeare in order that many people tend to have the same impression of her (suggesting skilled craftsmanship on the part of Shakespeare – through dramatic irony (this is Shakespeare’s not Lady Macbeth’s) and her powerful and lengthy monologues (or are they soliloquies?).

    Your exploration would benefit from some further analysis by separating points (paragraphing would help this too) and providing evidence for each idea. Further analysis of the language or structural devices would develop your ideas further and show consideration of how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as evil through her words, not just through her actions.

    When you do use quotes, make sure to use the original Shakespearian and not a translated version so you can look more closely at the language chosen (e.g. the connotations of words).

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