Macbeth Act 3 Scene 4 Essay

Shakespeare ‘Macbeth’ Assignment Act 3 Scene 4

In this extract of the play, Macbeth is reacting after he believes he has seen the ghost of Banquo, and Lady Macbeth attempts to smooth over the situation with him and their guests. The relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is an unusual one, with Lady Macbeth usually being the more domineering and controlling of the two.

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as controlling and manipulative in this extract, subverting the role women were contextually expected to play in a relationship. After Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, Lady Macbeth tries to control him, asking ‘Are you a man?’ The iambic stress falls on ‘you’ and ‘man’, emphasizing her emasculation and manipulation, and questioning his power

Lady Macbeth also address the thanes present at the banquet, telling them how ‘My lord is often thus / And hath been from his youth’. The abstract noun ‘youth’ implies that she has known and been close to him for a very long time, and this presents her as a loyal wife, a valued quality. The determiner ‘my’ could have different interpretations: it could be seen as possessive, reflecting and then subverting the Jacobean principle that the woman in a relationship was her husband’s property, or it could be taken to be an affectionate and loving remark, showing Lady Macbeth to be a far more conventional wife. In this way, their relationship, whilst not implied to be extremely close, isn’t shown to be entirely distant either. Lady Macbeth’s claim that Macbeth has been like this since his youth suggests that she has known him for a long time, and known him very well, although this may just be a front put on for the sake of the thanes whom she is addressing. Throughout the rest of the play, this idea that Lady Macbeth does not follow the conventions of a typical wife is further explored. In Act 2 Scene 2, when Macbeth refuses to return to Duncan’s body, going against the plan, she commands him ‘Infirm of