How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth
                                                                     Act I Scene 5 and 7

The story of Macbeth is the one of a honorable warrior committing a heinous act of regicide after being manipulated by his wife into doing so. Macbeth, like many of Shakespeare's plays has a deeper meaning to it. In Act I Scene 5, Macbeth sends a letter to his wife to let her know about the prophecy's which had been told to him by three witches. His wife views this as an opportunity for their promotion to a higher rank within the chain of being, but fears that Macbeth lacks the masculinity to commit the act of regicide by murdering King Duncan in order to inact the prophecy and allow him to rise to the rank of King. To do so would be considered an act against God, and being the honorable warrior Macbeth was, her doubts of his ability to carry through this crime were deep rooted. His wife appears to be talking to spirits, wishing to be released from the confines of her gender, as in the era this play is based in (the Jacobean era), women were extremely suppressed in terms of their social standing. Women were seen as house makers and mothers. Their duties consisted mainly of cooking, cleaning, caring for their children and loving and tending to their husbands, so seeing a lady (even if only in a play) doing such things was viewed as extremely abnormal, paired with the fact that she was attempting to communicate with spirits, even possibly unearthly. Another thing to consider is during the time period in which this play was written and enacted, the audience (Jacobean) had deep fears of witches, witchery, and magic. People suspected of witchcraft were prosecuted and in most scenarios, executed. Witches were seen as creations and ambassadors of the Devil himself, and association with them would guarantee eternal damnation.

In Act I, Scene 5, you can see Lady Macbeth reading the letter sent to her detailing Macbeth's encounter with the three odd figures (witches) who provided him with the prophecy which he was engulfed by. His wife, after reading the letter he sent, said "Glamis, thou art, and Cawdor; shalt be.". This line is highly significant due to it being the first actual words she says (a common misconception is that the reading of the letter is the first words she says but that is actually incorrect due to her reading it in our mind and due to a dramatic technique it being heard by us). One can see that she's speaking in iambic pentameter, and the line has 10 syllables total further verifying this. This matters due to the fact that Shakespeare only permitted important characters to speak in iambic pentameter, so it in a way foreshadows what is to come by indicating that Lady Macbeth is a character of significance. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth refer

Lady Macbeth is also exemplified as doubting of her husband's masculinity almost right after, saying "Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness". Milk connotes women as it represents purity and motherhood, as women were seen as people who would raise children, be pure of heart, kind, and tend lovingly to their husbands, and considering Lady Macbeth is referring to her husband, Macbeth, it's visible that she's pointing out his lack of masculinity as she doubts he'd be able to carry out a crime which would carry a consequence as severe as the one they were facing, which was believed at the time to be eternal damnation as at that time, people believed in a "Chain of Being", and according to that, King Duncan was chosen by the hand of god, and it was his divine right to be King, and to murder him would be an act against god. Lady Macbeth, in her first soliloquy, completely contradicts this idealistic view of Jacobean women, and this also goes to add the suspicion surrounding her as a character when she is first introduced in Act I, Scene 5.

She also shortly follows this up with "Art not without ambition; but without the illness to attend it.", which conveys that Macbeth doesn't lack the ambition to commit such an act, but rather simply just doesn't have what it takes to commit an act of regicide. All of this is juxtaposing as on one hand, Macbeth is demonstrated as a noble, valorous and honorable warrior, and on the other is being criticized of his impeding femininity by his wife. Lady Macbeth also later says the phrase "Hie Thi Hither", which translates to "Hurry Home". The  is wishing for Macbeth to hurry home so as to be able to manipulate him into commiting the heinous act, and this only goes to show how manipulating she is, that combined with the fact that she defies the normal style of how a Jacobean women should portray herself exemplifies her as a very interesting character. The abeformentioned planned manipulation of Macbeth is further confirmed when she soon follows it up with “And chastise thou with the valor of my tounge”. This in simple terms translates to “And let me manipulate you with my words”.

After making her first short speech, lady Macbeth was informed by the servant of the impending arrival of King Duncan, who had decided to spend a day at the house of Macbeth due to his bravery and patriotism. Upon hearing this and dismissing the servant, Lady Macbeth states “The Raven himself is hoarse”. With the dark mood already present from her previous speech, the connotations of the Raven, them being along the lines of darkness, death, cruelty and impurity, only goes to amplify the dark environment present. Building on this, she states “That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan”. Her choice of words to describe the message delivered is certainly unique, and doesn’t at all identify with the expected response from a woman from that era. Lady Macbeth describes his entrance as fatal, possibly foreshadowing his death later on in the play which we know is impending.

Moving aside from the play for a second, let’s take a look at her character again. She’s the complete antithesis of the stereotypical view of a Jacobean women, or at least intentionally portrayed as such.
Jacobean women were expected to be kind, nurturing, loving to their husbands and their purpose in life was to mainly create and mother a baby, or babies of their husbands, so when a women like Lady Macbeth with a husband of such high status and a reputation so well regarded shows herself as such, it’s truly shocking to the audience watching the play and automatically creates a negative image of her in their heads. This is what I believe to be Shakespeare’s intended effect. Now, to understand why this effect was chosen for this play, we need to look into the entire ideology of the play, why it was made, who it was made for, what did it try to show, and more. All things considered, this play was most likely made for to purposes, them being to one, appease the king (as that’s one of the most significant targets of Shakespeare’s play, due to the fact he was heavily funded by the royal family at the time), and two, to convey a moral to the people of the era which closely links to the first one as one can infer the moral to be to never oppose or act against the king. Shakespeare could not logically make a play about the act of regicide by two honorable people and end it with them getting away scott free, so him enabling a character such as Lady Macbeth, one so significant to act in such a way intrigues an audience nicely while simultaneously playing into the storyline and ending with her downfall. A bit further on in the play, it’s mentioned that Lady Macbeth was engulfed with the guilt of her actions, and could see her hands covered in blood. This paranoia eventually led to her committing suicide, her suicide also took a toll on Macbeth, and the play ends with him getting slain by the original heir to the thrown. As seen here, both the antagonists in this situation end up dead, and expectedly end up in hell. This is a satisfying wrap to the play as this provides the audience with a good show without upsetting the king, pleasing him instead.

Refocusing on the play once again, she is heard to say “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe full of direst cruelty”. This line not only verifies the doubts of her not being like a normal Jacobean woman, but also embeds more suspicions in the head of the audience pertaining to possible witchery. Summoning evil spirits that tend on mortal thoughts is very dark, sinister, and at that time certainly result in a conviction of witchcraft. It’s also noticeable that she asks to be filled from “the crown to the toe full of direst cruelty”, and given the context, it’s reasonable to assume she’s asking for this in order for her to be able to commit the act of regicide easily with no remorse, guilt or regret. She describes the blood as “thick”, which connotes strong, bold and unmoving. Exactly the ideal attributes for a job as such.

She follows this by soon saying “Unsex me here”, which translates to her asking to be rid of her gender. Jacobean women were expected to be kind and pure of heart, and she wanted to be rid of these expectations, to be viewed as a force to be reckoned with, to have power, control, to have respect. Exactly the things a renowned man in that era would have. Our doubts of her wanting to be rid of her gender are then confirmed when she says “Come to my women’s breasts and take my milk for gall”. A women’s breast milk is one of the most prominent signs of her femininity as it’s considered to be the food of newborns, something given to them by their female mothers upon their birth for a couple of months, so her wanting to get rid of her breast milk would be viewed as a significant ask, amplified by the fact of her gender.

Another thing to note is her repetition of the word “Come”, which she then repeats again when she says “Come thick night and pall thee with the dunnest smoke of hell”. She’s repeatedly asking what seems like “spirits who tend on mortal thoughts” to what boils down to helping her commit the act of regicide. She asks for her gender to be voided, for her blood to be filled with cruelty, for her to not be affected by the guilt and moral weight of her actions and now, from this quote, for her actions to be hidden from heaven so the angels or god cannot stop her. This here is important because the Jacobean people were extremely religious and believed as previously mentioned in the Chain of Being and considered it the King’s divine right to stay in that position, and that any opposition against their king would be considered an act against god. Lady Macbeth too believes in this ideology and therefore is seen asking to be hidden under the covers of the thick smoke of hell, so her actions be hidden from heaven, angels, and ultimately god. Hell was one of the main contributors to the fear of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth alike, as they too like the rest believed in this religious hierarchy and they too knew doing or committing an act like such would most certainly reserve them a spot in hell. This is one of the main deterring factors towards Macbeth, and the one which causes most of his self confliction.