Lady Macbeth As A Manipulator Essay

Lady Macbeth is presented as a manipulator who can disturb the course of society because she is a disturber. This is shown in Act 1 Scene 5, “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear.” Firstly, Lady Macbeth uses the delicate language of “pour” displaying she knows what she is doing and has calculated it, creating a vivid image in the audience’s mind of her pouring her ideas or “spirits” into Macbeth’s head, showing she is not only an influential manipulator but someone who has disturbing thoughts because she can alter the course of Macbeth’s thoughts to suit what she wants- to murder King Duncan. At this moment, the audience is unaware of exactly what she has planned but the supernatural connotations of “spirits” implies it

This along with the idea that the verb “pour” brings connotations of a witch mixing a potion linking to context as during the time witchcraft or any kind of supernatural element was seen as wrong and going against God. Because Shakespeare has linked Lady Macbeth to the supernatural, automatically traditional audiences view her as disturbing and immoral. This quote links to another scene which presents her as an instigator and Macbeth a perpetrator, disturbing the audience as she is portrayed higher than Macbeth. In Act 1 Scene 7, Macbeth is trying to supress his murderous intentions however, through Lady Macbeth’s quite harsh influential skills, she is able to manipulate Macbeth into thinking he should kill Duncan. The interesting feature of Lady Macbeth is her ability to conceal her manipulative skills to make Macbeth think it was “vaulting ambition” that encouraged him to kill Duncan. This is shown in the quote, “From this time such I account thy love.” This can present her as disturbing because she has the power over him to present an ultimatum to her husband who she is supposed to