Lady Macbeth Changes

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as an ambitious, power-hungry and vengeful woman, whose characteristics are connotations against a typrical Jacobean woman. Through the use of language and structure, aspects of her power are portrayed. However, Lady Macbeth’s character changes profoundly throughout the play, as does her calibre of power. In the early acts of the play, the relationship between Lady Macbeth and her husband convey herself as a strong-willed Character who takes on the role of a dominant male and has great influence over Macbeth, who is weaker. This is evident when Lady Macbeth states "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised”, in the earlier parts of act 1 scene 5. Lady Macbeth appears to be perfectly

Elizabethan’s belived in the supernatural very strongly and a majority of them were frightened by it, including the King of that time who had a special interest in witchcraft , James 1. They belived that witchcraft contained great powers such as the power to change seasons and predict the future with prophecies, consequently, they were deemed as unnatural and evil forces. Moreover, people believed in the natural order in society which should not be interfered with because it was considered a great sin; Lady Macbeth contrasts this idea by going against the natural order when she calls upon the ‘evil spirits’ to interfere with her personality and ‘take (her) milk for gall’; this references to the four humours (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm), which was a Jacqubean belief. The noun ,‘Gall’, comes from an excess of yellow bile and an imbalance of yellow bile in the body turns one ruthless and insolent, foreshadowing Lady Macbeth’s deterioration of mental state later on in the

For instance, ‘ The raven ‘represents death and evil power, because it is dark and ominous. He croaks ‘hoarsely’ to re-iteraate that Duncan's imminent death is coming closer, foreshadowing the danger and trouble Duncan will face. Similarly. ‘make thick my blood’ refers to the idea that harderning her heart will prevent her female, weak qualities reaching her mind. Furthermore, ‘blood’ is a strong motif throughout the play and blood shows how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both lose a grasp on reality. Later on in the play when Lady Macbeth and Macbeth cannot get the blood of their hands, the guilt consumes them, from this deed and is inescapable, signalling the detrimental consquences that will follow from Duncan’s death. Therefore, Lady Macbeth could seem aware, during act 1 scene 5, of the results of the deed and is relying on the supernatural, for ‘thick(ness)’, in other words protection from the permanent mental damage that could arise. The audience could perceive this heavy depence as a great weakness in Lady Macbeth’s character, as opposed to power and dominance. sUBSEQUENTLY, In contrast, Lady Macbeth’s decline in mental state when she sleepwalks in later scenes and the doctor proclaims, ‘Look, how she rubs her hands’ questions the existence of the supernatural, depicting that