Thursday, November 12, 2015

What dramatic techniques are used in Macbeth, Act 1, scene 5 under the theme of appearance and reality?

In this scene, Lady Macbeth delivers a soliloquy, a dramatic convention where a character speaks to him or herself while alone on stage; it gives the writer an opportunity to show us the character's true thoughts and feelings. This soliloquy takes place just after the messenger who brought news of Duncan's impending arrival leaves the stage. Lady Macbeth calls on spirits to


[...] unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty [....].
Come to my woman's breasts
And take my milk for gall [...].  (1.5.47-55)



She has requested to have any compassion or regret, any weak emotion associated with femaleness at this time, removed from her body and replaced with bitterness and anger and brutality, such as a man would have, so that she will be able to perform and not repent the murder of Duncan. Thus, to him, she will appear as a "fair and noble hostess" (1.6.30), but, inside, she will really be ruthless and cunning and vicious.


Then, when Macbeth arrives home, Lady Macbeth tells him, via a simile, that when Duncan arrives, he should "Look like th' innocent flower, / But be the serpent under 't" (1.5.76-78). In other words, he should appear to be the same loyal and kind kinsman that he has always been to Duncan, but this should be a deception to disguise his true, murderous motives.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre a feminist novel?

Feminism advocates that social, political, and all other rights should be equal between men and women. Bronte's Jane Eyre discusses many...