Lady Macbeth Rhetorical Analysis

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The effect a woman has on a man doesn’t only produce a great love between man and his wife, but it also compels action. Sometime, that same effect can lead people to commit crazy actions––even crimes––and that is exactly what Lady Macbeth was able to successfully accomplish. The strategies Lady Macbeth uses stretch far beyond the inspiration provided between lovers, manipulates Macbeth’s ideas and thought processes, and ultimately brings Macbeth follow through in his plan to kill Duncan. First contemplating to attempt the murder of his King Duncan, Macbath begins to question his actions, saying, “He’s here in double trust:/ First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,/ Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,/ Who should against his …show more content…

Macbeth says, “We will proceed no further in this business,” regarding his king who had honored him and his own reputation. Instead of telling him what to do in a forward manner, Lady Macbeth lures Macbeth toward murdering the king by prompting his mind to think about what his actions make of him: cowardly or courageous. Through manipulative, intriguing words, Lady Macbeth is able to make Macbeth question his own manhood and their love with rhetorical questions: “From this time/ Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard/ To be the same in thine own act and valor/ As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem” (38-43). She questions their love and and asks what “made [him] break [this] enterprise to [her]”––their promise to get Macbeth’s throne as quickly as possible (55). Continuously asking Macbeth questions, Lady Macbeth wins Macbeth over and causes him to prove his manlihood and courage to follow through with murdering the king. Successfully, Lady Macbeth is able to persuade Macbeth, bring him to a decision, and inspire him with her fearlessness and “undaunted mettle” to “compose nothing but males” (73-74). Lady Macbeth’s driven yet destructive nature encouraged Macbeth’s By attacking Macbeth’s manhood, even to the point of saying that she was more or a man than he is, she convinces him

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