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Macbeth annotations pdf11/11/2023 She is not rapt in wonderment, simply practical. An important psychological point is also made: Lady Macbeth herself does not hide her feelings in the same way that Macbeth does. The apparent paradise promised by the Witches is soon to become a hell. In the lines that follow, Lady Macbeth uses several significant metaphors of concealment: Macbeth's face is like "a book, where men / May read strange matters" (63-64) then, in a brilliantly ironic reference to the Genesis story, "Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under it" (66-67). Shakespeare uses the same technique immediately after the murder. Shakespeare uses half-line breaks to intensify the drama of the moment, each "partner in crime" picking up the rhythm of the other's speech: The dialogue that follows their initial encounter is fast, urgent, and disturbing. When Macbeth enters his castle, his wife greets him in a way that again recalls the words of the Witches in particular the words "all-hail" and "hereafter" chill the audience, for they are the exact words spoken to Macbeth by the Witches. It is no coincidence that these last words reflect those of Macbeth in the previous scene: Shakespeare is creating a strong verbal bond between husband and wife that will continue throughout the play. Lastly, she calls upon the night itself to hide her actions in a "blanket" of darkness. Next, she prays that those same evil spirits should suckle her, converting what should be her nourishing mother's milk to "gall" (bitterness). First she bids the spirits to literally deprive her of her femininity, to thicken her blood, and to stop her ability to weep. And when she speaks, in her next soliloquy, of her "fell purpose," her intentions are described in the most grotesque and frightening terms. The fact that we meet her alone on stage means that we are privy to her innermost thoughts, which are filled with the imagery of death and destruction. Lady Macbeth is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. She must "pour spirits in thine ear." Any member of Shakespeare's audience who had seen his play Hamlet four years previously would be more than aware of the significance of this line, for in that play the good King Claudius is murdered by poison administered through the ear. In this case, she says, there is only one solution. He is "too full of the milk of human kindness" to commit murder he would be great, he would have a high position, he would wrongly win that position, but in each case, some other aspect of his character would not. But immediately her thoughts turn to possible failings in her husband. At this point, Lady Macbeth herself has virtually become an agent of Fate, just like the Weird Sisters. Her words "shalt be" uncannily reflect those of the Witches' prophecy. Immediately after she finishes the letter, Lady Macbeth's mind goes to work. Equally significantly, he sets up Lady Macbeth as his "dearest partner of greatness." She will indeed become his partner in crime, but much more than that: Apart from the fatal blow itself, she will be responsible for controlling Macbeth's passions and - to an extent - his actions. Significantly, in his letter, Macbeth says nothing of their prophecy to Banquo perhaps he is already afraid of its implications. The letter, read alone on stage by Lady Macbeth, reiterates the Witches' prophecy of Act I. In doing so, she suggests that her husband is weak - he contains too much of "the milk of human kindness." When Macbeth arrives from the court of Duncan, bearing news of the king's forthcoming visit, his wife makes her plans clear to him. She is immediately aware of the significance of their prophetic words and, on being informed that King Duncan will be paying a royal visit to Inverness, makes up her mind to carry out the murder of the king in order to hasten the prophecy. At Macbeth's home, the castle of Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband concerning his meeting with the Witches.
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