How Shakespeare dramatized the changes in Lady Macbeth

Résumé du document

"Ambition is the step that can turn a noble-hearted man into a sinner" is the message Shakespeare wanted to convey to the audience when he wrote the play Macbeth in 1606. Lady Macbeth's is the wife of an important nobleman: Macbeth, they are both characterized by their great ambition of becoming king and queen. Although she is a woman, her character is very important in the play because Lady Macbeth has a stronger personality than her husband, she knows how to manipulate him to obtain the death of the king and therefore the power she is longing for. Macbeth, obsessed and paranoid by his desire to be king, decides to murder Duncan. He betrays the cause he had been serving by committing several other murders without Lady Macbeth's encouragement, which will lead both of them to death: he will be killed by Macduff's sword and she will commit suicide, haunted by guilt.

Extraits

[...] She is unaware, terrified, full of remorse and guilt ‘will these hands ne'er be clean?', ‘What is done cannot be undone'. We can see the ‘heart is sorely charged' because she repeats herself a lot damned spot!', bed', ‘Come', she is incoherent, and overwhelmed by the situation which is characterized by the involvement of several senses such as smell ‘here's a smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand' Shakespeare uses hyperbole/exaggeration to dramatize the situation - touch or sight damned spot!', and sound two'. [...]

[...] The play is a true story: Duncan was an unpopular Scottish king and in 1040 Macbeth took his throne by force, it was the perfect example to prevent a regicide because James was the descendent of Banquo and it clearly showed the terrible consequences it could have. Through the changes in Lady Macbeth, the author tried to give a universal message about ambition, and about the disturbance of natural and divine order of things. Murdering a man was terrible, but killing a king was even worse, because they belonged to the divine chain of beings. [...]

[...] The knocking on the door interrupts the discussion, it Macbeth and his wife go back to their room. In Act Scene we first see Lady Macbeth's gentlewoman and a Doctor, in Lady Macbeth's room, near 2:00 am two' the bell ringing) as in Act scene 2. Her gentlewoman states that Lady Macbeth is constantly sleeping but sometimes walks and talks in her sleep, she refuses to tell to the doctor what she is saying in her sleep: ‘neither to you, nor to anyone, having no witness to confirm my speech', this supposes that it is something very important that could have disastrous consequences. [...]

[...] She admits she could not kill Duncan because resembled her father as he slept”. The sound they both hear coming from their imagination shows us Lady Macbeth has very little confidence, and it is a technique to accentuate the tension between the two characters, which already is very high. Lady Macbeth knows that showing their feelings will lead the both of them to hysteria: foolish thought to say a sorry sight', ‘Consider it not so deeply', ‘these deeds must not be thought [ it will make us mad'. [...]

[...] She cannot see the characters that surround her which shows us she is shut in her hysteria. The impotence of the Doctor is a technique to dramatize the scene and the rubbing of the spot as well, because it creates a sort of tension and shows us the importance of the internal conflict which is happening in Lady Macbeth's mind. There is a clear contrast between this scene and Act II, Scene in act scene1 she appears in the scene a lot more intimate and sensible, we see a young woman devastated by guilt whereas in the whole play she is a courageous and ambitious lady, the audience almost feels pity for her. [...]