Juxtaposition In Macbeth

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth he portrays Lady Macbeth as a demented power –hungry unorthodox Elizabethan woman that takes the degrading tradition of Elizabethan women and completely neglects that belief but throughout this masterpiece that façade proves to be feeble and her true colours are revealed.

In Act 1 Scene, 5 Shakespeare writes ‘Nor heaven break through the blanket of the dark.' This can show juxtaposition because blankets are associated with things that are pleasant and provide comfort and now they are in conjunction with darkness this shows that lady Macbeth can turn things that are soft and meant for babies into things that are wrong and evil. This is a demonstration of how she is strong because a woman from her time would have never been so verbally aggressive or so willing to push her husband into action. Furthermore the metaphor displays that she finds comfort in the darkness like she desires it and if it were to escape from her she would feel fragile and as a result of

‘The use of this emotive language such as ‘dash’s the brains out ‘displays that if she were to make a promise she would defiantly keep it and this is one of her many uses manipulation and she is saying this to make Macbeth feel pathetic because she is a woman and she is able to keep a promise and Macbeth is man and he cannot even keep a promise this is a perfect indication that she is the power behind Macbeth’s power. The use of the word’ dash’d’ indicates that she is strong because she’s not just putting the babe down she is heavily propelling it to the floor almost rebuking something Macbeth can’t do. This can be a reference to the theatre actress Alex Kingston as she represented Lady Macbeth in a play she said her character freaked her out and I can certainly agree with this statement since she is talking about smashing her baby’s head on the