In the soliloquy, she spurns her feminine characteristics, crying out “unsex me here” and wishing that the milk in her breasts would be exchanged for “gall” so that she could murder Duncan herself. Her soliloquy in Act 1, scene 5, begins the play’s exploration of gender roles, particularly of the value and nature of masculinity. She is well aware of the discrepancy between their respective resolves and understands that she will have to manipulate her husband into acting on the witches’ prophecy. Her violent, blistering soliloquies in Act 1, scenes 5 and 7, testify to her strength of will, which completely eclipses that of her husband. These scenes are dominated by Lady Macbeth, who is probably the most memorable character in the play. It also suggests that Macbeth is the focus of the drama’s moral confusion. This line echoes the witches’ words and establishes a connection between them and Macbeth.
Interestingly, Macbeth’s first line in the play is “So foul and fair a day I have not seen” (1.3.36). Such speech adds to the play’s sense of moral confusion by implying that nothing is quite what it seems. Their famous line “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” is a prominent example (1.1.10), but there are many others, such as their characterization of Banquo as “lesser than Macbeth, and greater” (1.3.63). Shakespeare has the witches speak in language of contradiction. Whenever they appear, the stage directions deliberately link them to unease and lurking chaos in the natural world by insisting on “Thunder” or “Thunder and lightning.” Their rhyming incantations stand out eerily amid the blank verse spoken by the other characters, and their grotesque figures of speech establish a lingering aura. The sinister witches cast the mood for the entire play. Lady Macbeth and the three witches are extremely wicked, but they are also stronger and more imposing than the men around them. Macbeth contains some of Shakespeare’s most vivid female characters. Once Lady Macbeth hears of the witches’ prophecy, Duncan’s life is doomed. In the following scene, Lady Macbeth will emerge and drive the hesitant Macbeth to act she is the will propelling his achievements. His reaction to the prophecy displays a fundamental confusion and inactivity: instead of resolving to act on the witches’ claims, or simply dismissing them, Macbeth talks himself into a kind of thoughtful stupor as he tries to work out the situation for himself. He clearly allows himself to consider taking such actions, although he is by no means resolved to do so. Macbeth immediately realizes that the fulfillment of the prophecy may require conspiracy and murder on his part. Macbeth is a noble and courageous warrior but his reaction to the witches’ pronouncements emphasizes his great desire for power and prestige. Our initial impression of Macbeth, based on the captain’s report of his valor and prowess in battle, is immediately complicated by Macbeth’s obvious fixation upon the witches’ prophecy.
0 kommentar(er)
