Lady Macbeth Rhetorical Analysis

In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth uses two primary methods in order to convince Macbeth into committing the deed. Initially, Lady Macbeth begins to test Macbeth's manhood in order to persuade him to kill King Duncan. In a conversation between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, Lady Macbeth convinces him into thinking that only through the murder of Duncan will he be considered a man to her and states “That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man” (Shakespeare i, vii). During this period, men were admired and were held up on society based upon their manhood. Lady Macbeth knows that in this type of society it is important to be seen as a powerful and

When Macbeth states that "We will proceed no further in this business” (Shakespeare i, vii), Lady Macbeth starts to uses rhetorical questions in order to persuade her husband into committing the murder. In the conversation between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth feel guilty by asking: Where in you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? /And wakes it now, to look so green and pale/ At what it did so freely? (Shakespeare i, vii). Macbeth is having second thought about killing King Duncan, however Lady Macbeth refused to allow him to pass up the opportunity to become king. She asked these rhetorical questions in order to make him feel ashamed of himself for not acting on his desires. Lady Macbeth's main intentions are to make the situation sount elegant so Macbeth feels comfortable killing him. She tries to reason logically with him, pointing out that he wanted to kill the king, but now when he has the opportunity too, he suddenly doesn't want to. She questions his integrity and suggests that he cannot keep a promise. She uses a horrific example of bashing her babies brains out if that is what she promised to so. Therefore, she urged MAcbeth to do the same because he promised to murder the king. Thus, Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth into keeping murder a secret. She wants to be queen of Scotland, and will do