Lady Macbeth Speech Analysis

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Pages: 2
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Valerie Obear
Mrs. Carwile
Honors English 10
November 24, 2015
Shakespeare’s Macbeth Lady Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s Act 1, scene vii of Macbeth, is able to convince her husband, Macbeth, to go through with the murder of Duncan by degrading his masculinity, enhancing his cowardly flaws and comparing her determination with his hesitant actions. Lady Macbeth uses rhetorical questions throughout her speech in order to persuade her husband even further. She then continues to question his own ambition asking if he was drunk or whether he “Hath slept since;” (45-46), when he expressed his desire to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth uses the words “so green” and “pale,” (47) enquiring if the idea of murder has now sickened him. Lady Macbeth declares her husband to be a coward, “and live a coward in thine own esteem.” (53) She then proceeds to question his ambition of obtaining “the ornament of life” (52) (the crown), would he rather live a coward than acquire the crown he adoringly desires. However, is he truly the one who desires the crown? Lady Macbeth holds the prophecy to be true, therefore doing anything that needs to be done in order for her husband to obtain the …show more content…
Lady Macbeth’s confusion arises as she asks what creature made him break his promise, considering the man who made the promise was much more of a man than he is now. She uses another comparison, the most indescribable and horrid example of her determination; she states that “she would, pluck’d [her own breastfeeding child from] my nipple, and dash’d the brains out” (69-72) this unbearable statement indicates her hunger in wanting to go through with Duncan’s murder. Clearly, she is using a very persuasive technique and hoping her husband feels embarrassed and cowardly for his hesitation on her plans for Duncan’s
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