The Emotional Manipulation Of Lady Macbeth By William Shakespeare

In Act I, scene VI of TheTragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth’s speech to illustrate her dominance and effective emotional manipulation of Macbeth. First, Lady Macbeth uses a series rhetorical questions mocking him for going back on his word. She says, “Were you drunk when you seemed so hopeful before? Have you gone to sleep and woken up green and pale in fear of this idea?” With these questions, Lady Macbeth makes him feel small, reminding him that he already said he would do it and that he would be dishonoring his word out of fear. Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth feel non-manly and fears the bad things that might happen instead of the glorious things of becoming a King. Then she questions his love. She says, “From now on

After that, she accuses him of not being brave enough to catch up with his dreams. She says, “Are you afraid to act the way you desire? With this rhetorical question, she asserts that his desires are not aligned with his courage making him feel unable to put his actions where his mouth is. Making Macbeth feel guilty that he is not doing enough to become king. She continues to question his ability to perform the deed. She says, “Will you take the crown you want so badly, or will you live as a coward, always saying “I can’t” after you say “I want to”? You’re like the poor cat in the old story.” This rhetorical question implies that he wants to be king but won’t take any risks to get what he wants which creates in him feelings of inadequacy. Here Lady Macbeth is referring to a proverb in which a cat wanted to catch fish but didn’t want to get its feet wet. Macbeth feels like he is not able to perform the things he says because he doesn’t want to take the chance of getting caught. She tells him that he is not a man but an animal that isn’t capable to do things as they say. She says, “If you weren’t a man, then what kind of animal were you when you first told me you wanted to do

Here, she uses a rhetorical question to make him feel he would be a man if he kills Duncan, in her eyes, but as low as an animal if he does not.

This makes Macbeth feel like he is a animal, that isn’t able to do manly things because he is afraid like a cat scared of water. Furthermore, she reassures him that the time and place are perfect for the deed. She says, “The time and place weren’t right before, but you would have gone ahead with the murder anyhow. Now the time and place are just right, but they’re almost too good for you.” Here Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that this is the only right time and place to Kill Duncan because If they don’t do it right now he would probably not inherit being the king. This makes Macbeth feel that if he doesn’t risk killing King Duncan right now then he would never be king and all that effort of becoming king will go down the drain. She offers herself as an example. She says, “I have suckled a baby, and I know how sweet it is to love the baby at my breast. But even as the baby was smiling up at me, I would have plucked my nipple out of its mouth and