ACT 1, Scene 5
The raven himself is hoarse - raven – bad omen - evil
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan – Duncan will die at her house
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits – she preparing for the muder
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, - she needs to be as strong as a man to complete the muder
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full - make her feel like a man
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, - feel no guilt
That no compunctious visitings of nature – no natural feelings of pity
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, - The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk, usually symbols of nurture, impedes her from performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,- turn her kindness into bitterness - The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk which are usually symbols of nurture, despite her performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, - her becoming evil
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, - sharp knife
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’ – The night wrap itself in darkness as black as hell, so no one knows about the murder
The raven himself is hoarse - raven – bad omen - evil
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan – Duncan will die at her house
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits – she preparing for the muder
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, - she needs to be as strong as a man to complete the muder
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full - make her feel like a man
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, - feel no guilt
That no compunctious visitings of nature – no natural feelings of pity
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, - The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk, usually symbols of nurture, impedes her from performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,- turn her kindness into bitterness - The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk which are usually symbols of nurture, despite her performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, - her becoming evil
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, - sharp knife
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’ – The night wrap itself in darkness as black as hell, so no one knows about the murder
Context
Lady Macbeth's monologue is one of the most famous quotations in Macbeth. In this speech Lady Macbeth is clearly willing to do
whatever is necessary to seize the throne. Her strength of purpose is
contrasted with her husband’s tendency to waver. This speech shows the audience
that Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind Macbeth and that her ambition
will be strong enough to drive her husband forward. At the same time, the
language of this speech touches on the theme of masculinity— “unsex me here / .
. . / . . . Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall,” Lady Macbeth
says as she prepares herself to commit murder. The language suggests that her
womanhood, represented by breasts and milk, usually symbols of nurture, impedes
her from performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with
manliness. Later, this sense of the relationship between masculinity and
violence will be deepened when Macbeth is unwilling to go through with the
murders and his wife tells him, in effect, that he needs to “be a man” and get
on with it.
The language used in the monologue suggests her womanhood and that woman must be strong. The role of woman is revealed throughout the monologue through Lady Macbeth's words and how she describes herself and woman, although she has to call on the spirits to make fill her with the strength that she needs to go ahead with the murder because she is in actual fact not strong and woman are not seen as strong people in society, and uses the spirits to become strong.
Lady Macbeth's blind ambition is also shown in her monologue through her language. Evil is present in Lady Macbeth's blind ambition. She performs a soliloquy, in which she desires to interact with evil spirits and demands them to make her a man so that she can perform the murder. Blind ambition is when a person sets goals and targets in life without taking into account the obvious obstacles or prefers to take them as unseen. Lady Macbeth plans the murder of King Duncan but doesn't realise the obstacles and chooses not to focus on the things that could go wrong she does wants to get it over and done with so that she can be powerful.
The language used in the monologue suggests her womanhood and that woman must be strong. The role of woman is revealed throughout the monologue through Lady Macbeth's words and how she describes herself and woman, although she has to call on the spirits to make fill her with the strength that she needs to go ahead with the murder because she is in actual fact not strong and woman are not seen as strong people in society, and uses the spirits to become strong.
Lady Macbeth's blind ambition is also shown in her monologue through her language. Evil is present in Lady Macbeth's blind ambition. She performs a soliloquy, in which she desires to interact with evil spirits and demands them to make her a man so that she can perform the murder. Blind ambition is when a person sets goals and targets in life without taking into account the obvious obstacles or prefers to take them as unseen. Lady Macbeth plans the murder of King Duncan but doesn't realise the obstacles and chooses not to focus on the things that could go wrong she does wants to get it over and done with so that she can be powerful.
Summary:
In Act I, Scene 5, the theme of Nature vs. Political Order is apparent in Lady Macbeth's observation that the raven who "croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan" becomes hoarse and cannot be heard. For, Lady Macbeth's unnatural political world, invoked with her calling upon the spirits to unsex her and fill her with "direst cruelty" that has no "compunctious visiting of nature," no natural feelings of pity, overtakes the natural world. Much like her husband who has called upon the predictions of the three witches, invoking the preternatural world to direct his destiny in his "vaulting ambition," Lady Macbeth assumes an unnatural state, as well, as she de-feminizes herself and embraces violence to further her political ends.
This soliloquy furthers the intentions to subvert nature to the design of the Macbeths. Lady Macbeth tries to use nature to hide her evil intentions as she calls upon the "thick night" and "blanket of the dark" so that her "keen knife see not the wound it makes." Their ambition for power thus leads the Macbeths to the phantasmagoric realm; that is, a shifting complex of things imagined and unnatural. This concept of unnaturalness in the Macbeths becomes their nemesis as in Elizabethan times, a common belief was that the health of the country was directly connected to the natural state, the goodness and "moral legitimacy" of the king.