"Come, you spirits; That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…" In Macbeth, William Shakespeare writes this passage in order to tell us about the character of Lady Macbeth. Using only this line, we can almost determine Lady Macbeth's personality and her motives. Up to the point where this quote leaves off, we have not heard much of Lady Macbeth.
In the first line Lady Macbeth says, "Come, you spirits." Already we have a dark image of her conjuring up evil spirits. She does not seem a bit intimidated by the spirits she is calling. Her tone of voice suggests she is almost commanding the spirits to help her carry out her plan. Shakespeare meant to put this phrase in the beginning of the sentence. So that the reader sees Lady Macbeth as more of an evil character, which in her own way conjures evil spirits.
In the first part of the second line Lady Macbeth says, "That tend on mortal thought." It means that she wants the evil spirits that wait on thoughts of murder or death to come to her. This phrase foreshadows the many deaths that happen by the end of the play. By now, we can see Lady Macbeth's nature. Her thoughts are all dark images, and her mind is set on the murder of the King.
Finally, in the most significant part of the sentence Lady Macbeth says, "unsex me here." She wants the spirits to come and take away her soft, feminine characteristics. She feels that her husband is too nice to get the greatness he is promised, and the only way he can succeed is if she helps him.
In the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth is the brain behind the operation. She not only provides the actual plan, but encourages her husband as well. During the period the play was written, women were considered to be submissive. However, in her case, she is so influential that Macbeth is persuaded by her. To help convince Macbeth not to call the murder off, Lady Macbeth questions his manhood.
In Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, the viewer explores the inner workings of the human mind. Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s closest friend and wife, is a controversial character due to her ruthlessness, in some parts, and gentleness, in others. Through the juxtaposition of Lady Macbeth’s conscious and subconscious thoughts, Shakespeare highlights her tragic flaw, her suppression of her femininity.
The witches are giving Macbeth his fate. The entire time he is not interested in his fate but only in his downfall. Another thing that was displayed throughout this scene is the fact that even know the vision only appeared once the vision is reoccuring within Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth’s mind is so clouded with the fact that he is “ Invincible” it almost makes him into a ghost, who only sees power and killing. This quote could play both ways as a ghost or a vision is a literal or physical
"They met me in the day of success: and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge" (1.5.1-3). Lady Macbeth is reading the letter in which Macbeth tells of his meeting with the witches. After she has read the letter, Lady Macbeth is determined that she will make the witches' prophecy come true. She prepares herself to work her husband into a murderous state of mind. She also gets hereself into a murderous state of mind, crying out, "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty!" (1.5.40-43) When Macbeth arrives, she advises him to put on an innocent face in front of the King and to leave the rest to her. [Scene Summary]
In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is overly whelmed by the letter she receives about Macbeth. This pushes her to the extreme and causes her to react outrageously. " Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…make thick my blood…take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers…come thick night." (I;v;40-50) All these images of darkness and horror reveal the true character of Lady Macbeth; she feels the need to become wicked. Her attitude is even more horrific when she calls on evil spirits to come and possess her, taking control of her actions. This sort of behavior causes the audience and reader to assume Lady Macbeth is a psychopath, and therefore would have reason to hold her responsible for having a major impact on her husband and driving him off, enlightening a twisted sinister and threatening dark side of him.
Throughout history women have fought for the same rights of men. In the time of William Shakespeare they were seen in society as weak and vulnerable. They were seen to be good, caring and not as powerful as men. Men were the superior and ruled the land. Shakespeare has taken the stereotypical image of the women of the time and turned it on its head in ‘Macbeth’. Lady Macbeth is shown as a very powerful, strong woman. She has an evil about her that Shakespeare has used to make ‘Macbeth’ a supernatural play. Women were seen to be good and not as powerful as men, in ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth is the dominate character and commands and persuades Macbeth to commit the murders and crimes that he does.
The audience is left in no doubt about Lady Macbeth’s determination when she asks the spirits to make her masculine ‘unsex me here’ and make her completely evil:
This passage shows Lady Macbeth asking the gods to fill her with all ruthlessness and hate to commit the killing of King Duncan but to have outer deceptive qualities to perceive other people like Macbeth himself.
On the other hand, Lady Macbeth views on manhood are much different from her husband's and the other characters in the play. Unlike Macbeth, Lady Macbeth envisions a man to be opportunist, cruel and ruthless instead of honorable and loyal. When she receives the letter from Macbeth and learns of her chance to be queen, she prays that the spirits "that tend on mortal thoughts [would] unsex [her]", and that she will be "fill[ed] from the crown to the toe of direst cruelty", so that she would have the strength to murder Duncan. Believing the spirits would "unsex" her, she hopes that she wouldn't be bothered by a woman's kindness or remorse and thus would become a cruel killer, like a man.
One permeating aspect of Shakespeare’s depiction of masculinity is its dominance over femininity. Lady Macbeth is a vital contributor to this mindset throughout the plot. As a means of obtaining power, Lady Macbeth sees her femininity as an obstacle and obtaining masculine attributes as a step toward the throne. We see this when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and full me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (33). In this quote she is literally asking to replace her feminine attributes with masculine ones, which she perceives as cruelty and aggression. She continues to emphasize this ideal when she states “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall” (33). This line is a blatant reference ...
Lady Macbeth is one of the most compelling characters who challenges the concept of gender roles. Her relationship with Macbeth is atypical, particularly due to the standards of its time. Lady Macbeth becomes the psychologically controlling force over her husband, essentially assuming a masculine role, in order to inspire the aggression needed to fulfil his ambitions. Through her powerful taunts and persuasion, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder the king and to take his throne. She emasculates over her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to prove his manhood, he will perform the acts she wishes. In Act 1, Scene 5
(I.v.23). Lady Macbeth even goes as far as to call upon the spirits to "unsex"
Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime.
Shakespeare is known for strong male heroes, but they are not laying around in this play, not that Macbeth is full of strong female heroines, either. The women in the play, Lady Macbeth and the witches have very uncommon gender belief, and act as inhumane as the men. While the men engage in direct violence, the women use manipulation to achieve their desires. As Lady Macbeth impels Macbeth to kill King Duncan, she indicated that she must take on some sort of masculine characteristic in order to process the murder. “Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ of direst cruelty.” (i v 31-34) This speech is made after she reads Macbeth’s letter. Macbeth, she has shown her desire to lose her feminine qualities and gain masculine ones. Lady Macbeth's seizure of the dominant role in the Macbeth's marriage, on many occasions, she rules her husband and dictates his actions. Her speeches in the first part of the book give the readers a clear impression. “You shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall […] gi...
Lady Macbeth expresses a hidden evil throughout the play. Behind closed doors, she shows her evil by voicing her heartless phrases to herself. She shows she has no love but for her evil and knows no bounderies when it comes to having her way. "That I may pour my spirits in thine ear" Shows that Lady Macbeth knows that she is evil and is wishing that she could share her evil with Macbeth. "Make thick my blood, Stop up th' Access and Passage to remorse." Expresses Lady Macbeth wanting more evil and is asking for her blood to stop the passage through her heart, so she can continue her evil ways without any remorse or guilt. Although Lady Macbeth is evil, she knows well not to convey this trait to the public, but to be pleasant and sweet to the king and others.
One of Lady Macbeth’s commonly overlooked traits is her goodness, especially towards her husband, Macbeth. This goodness is first apparent at her introduction; as she reads the letter written to her by Macbeth. The letter tells of the three witches, whom Macbeth refers to as the weird sisters, and a prophecy regarding Macbeth’s future kingship. Immediately, Lady Macbeth desires the throne for her husband. Not only desire is felt, but also determination. Worried that Macbeth would not be capable of walking the quickest path to the throne, killing the current King Duncan, Lady Macbeth calls forth evil spirits to strip her of her weaker, feminine qualities. She says: