By the end of the play, although Lady Macbeth tries to sway us other wise the audience is convinced by the characters that in order to be masculine, you don’t have to be violent as such but show leadership and loyalty. This message is conveyed in Act 4, scene 3 when Ross reports to Macduff the death of his family. Malcolm, Duncan’s son, suggests to Macduff that he should take to the news in a ‘manly fashion’. “I shall do so;/But I must feel it as a man…” This quote made by Macduff suggests that to take something like a man, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be violent.
Another theme explored in this part of the play is “Appearences often hide reality”. This theme suggests that people are not always who they seem to be. “To beguile the time/Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye,/Your hand, your tounge; look like th’innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under’t. ” When Lady Macbeth says this to her husband, she is telling him he must not give away their scheme to kill Duncan. In order to keep up the disguise, Macbeth must wear a mask of kindness and welcome so his company do not suspect the murder which is about to take place.
By the end of the play, the masks that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth wore become their permanent and irreversible state which leads Macbeth into boastful madness and Lady Macbeth into insanity and eventual suicide. The message depicted by this theme is that one should stay loyal and not be persuaded to do selfish things by putting ones desires before the people around them. Lady Macbeth is the main contributor to both themes in this scene as she not only has the largest role but the biggest opinion.
As well as themes, Shakespeare also included many drama and language techniques in the play Macbeth. One of the language techniques used was Similes. “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t. ” When Lady Macbeth speaks this line to her husband, it creates a vivid image of what he must do in order to seize the throne. . Shakespeare chose to use this language technique because it not only intrigues the reader or audience of the play but it created a clear but creative interpretation or what Lady Macbeth is trying to put across.
As well as creating a clear image, the line of Lady Macbeths that I quoted earlier, links to the theme of ‘Appearences often hide reality’. Like many of Shakespeare’s famous plays, Macbeth ventures into the ambiguous minds and lives of the characters within the play. The play is revolved around the one central character, Macbeth. Along with Macbeth, is his devoted yet manipulative wife, Lady Macbeth. The story turns into a spiral of unchecked ambition, gruesome victories followed by some with bloody falls.
The plot begins when Macbeth and his best friend Banquo once again succeed in battle and soon after stumble across a trio of vile witches who greet Macbeth with the following prophesies. Firstly, he will further become the thane of Cawdor as he is already the Thane of Glamis and from there, the King of Scotland. The idea of becoming king intrigued Macbeth and filled his mind with desperate and murderous desires which lead both him and wife into the inescapable hole they dig for themselves through out the play.
In Act 1, Scene 5 Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband informing her of the witches prophesy. She then hears word that King Duncan would be staying at their castle that night. Configuring her sadistic plans, she soon comes to realize that her husband would not be up to the challenge of murdering Duncan himself. In turn making the murder even more difficult than she first intended. In this scene many themes are folded in to insure the play stays interesting. One of these themes includes “The relationship between cruelty and masculinity”.
This theme describes how through out the ages, ‘manhood’ was something you gained by being violent and pitiless. In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth speaks of how her husband would be incapable of pursuing in the murder due to his decency. She questions his masculinity as she knows he respects Duncan too much to follow through with her plans. “It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness/ to catch the nearest way. ” This quote by Lady Macbeth suggests that Macbeth is too ‘unmanly’ to take the opportunity that arises.
But although men are usually thought as the more dominant sex, in this scene the audience is lead otherwise. “Come to my women’s breasts/And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers. ” This quote proposes that Lady Macbeth wishes to be drained of all her femininity so that she may be able to kill Duncan. Another reason Shakespeare included similes in Macbeth was to connect what the characters were saying to the theme portrayed. The second technique that was used was a soliloquy.
Soliloquy, being a drama technique, is when a single character is alone, or aside from the other actors on stage and is speaking to them self, revealing his or her thoughts and feelings to the audience. In this scene, Lady Macbeth makes a very vital soliloquy when asking the spirits to strip her of her all womanliness. “Unsex me here and fill from crown to toe, topfull of direst cruelty. ” The effect of using this soliloquy was to create a confined relationship between the character on stage, and the audience.
This drama technique relates to the first theme “The relationship between cruelty and masculinity” as inside Lady Macbeth’s personal speech, she asks evil spirits to ‘unsex’ and ‘stop the access and passage to remorse’ so that she may not feel any guilt or responsibility when murdering Duncan. One last technique used in act 1, scene 5 was verse variety. Verse variety, another language technique, is used in Macbeth a lot either to distinguish between more common people, and royals or to set apart more poetic language from formal writing.
It is used in this scene, when Lady Macbeth is reading the letter her husband sends to her, and then evaluates it herself. “When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. ” The letter is supposed to be more of an informative report, but when contrasted with Lady Macbeth’s poetic language it creates a beautiful disparity. This technique links to the theme, “the relationship between cruelty and masculinity” because it shows how dependent Macbeth is on his wife and the intimacy they share.
Even at this stage of the play, you can see by his letter that he see’s his wife as his equal, although later on in this scene she becomes the more determined of the two. So can women really be stronger and more masculine than men? If after reading or seeing this play you still believe men are the dominant sex, you clearly should see a doctor as I fear you may be illiterate. Sex. It’s something the entire world is surrounded by; no matter affective parents believe film ratings are, there really is no escape.
