![]() Think about the context of the scene: consider that Lady Macbeth is alone on stage for this speech how does this affect your performance? Are you whispering and scared of being overheard? Or are you confident and calling to the heavens? This monologue should build to a dramatic conclusion, but it doesn’t mean that you need to end with a yell. You can use this knowledge of her arc to give your rendition of Lady Macbeth a more vulnerable, and therefore human, characterisation. While the content is macabre, it also foreshadows how she becomes overwhelmed with guilt and suspicion-to the point of madness. She is calling on spirits to help remove her goodness and make her capable of the evil plot she is hatching: each thought begins with her summoning something new to come to her and help her achieve her goal. This monologue, when spoken out loud, should sound like a spell that Lady Macbeth is conjuring. To scream Stop, Stop!’ Performing Lady Macbeth Or heaven won’t see through the blanket of the night, That my sharp knife won’t see the wound it makes, Will rattle me from my purpose, or keep me fromĪnd wrap yourself in heaviest smoke of hell, That serve thoughts about death, remove my femininity, This should help you better understand the intention behind the text: Now that we have the individual beats mapped out, here’s an adaptation of the same speech in modernised language. Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, We have marked Lady Macbeth’s monologue and broken it down so that each paragraph introduces the new beats/ideas or thoughts as they come to the character: Pall: Wrap or cover used to dress and prepare a corpse for burial. ![]() Mischief: Harm, injury or evil done on purpose. Sightless substances: Invisible place/being. Murdering Ministers: Demons, murderous servant. Unsex: Remove my femininity or womanhood.Ĭompunctious visitings of nature: Natural thoughts of one’s conscience: guilt, remorse. ![]() So the double meaning here is that Lady Macbeth is referring to her home, but the suggestion is she is about to go into battle. Ravens often symbolise death or murder and make an ominous sound when they call.īattlements: Are a part of a castle, mostly used in war. The raven himself is hoarse: Lady Macbeth is referring to the servant who delivered the message but she calls him a raven. To cry ‘Hold, hold!’ Unfamiliar Words And Phrasesīefore you delve into the deeper meanings of the text, it is important to identify and understand any unfamiliar words or phrases Shakespeare may have used: Nor heaven peep throug the blanket of the dark, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,Īnd pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,Īnd take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,Īnd fill me from the crown to the toe top-full She tells the servant to prepare for their arrival and, once he has left, begins this soliloquy: Original Text In this particular scene, a servant enters and tells her that King Duncan and Macbeth are both travelling back to the castle. Lady Macbeth, who receives the letter at their castle, becomes determined to take the crown by any means necessary. Shaken, but fuelled by the first hint of desire to be King, Macbeth writes to his wife to inform her of what has happened. ![]() Becoming Thane of Cawdor was the first part of the prophecy, and this convinces him that the witches may have been telling the truth. Their plotting does lead to their rule however, as they become overwhelmed by their ambition, and in Lady Macbeth’s case, the madness of guilt, their actions eventually lead to their downfall.Īfter learning of the witches’ prophecy, Macbeth receives the title of ‘Thane of Cawdor’ from King Duncan. After meeting three witches who prophesise his rise to the throne, he reports this information to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who convinces him to murder the current King, Duncan. The play is set in Scotland and follows the downfall of army General and hero Macbeth. Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, full of murder and madness.
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