Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is a Scottish noblewoman in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth who urges her husband to murder King Duncan. Her pursuit of power gives way to guilt and psychological collapse.

“Unsex Me Here”: A speech in which Lady Macbeth calls on spirits to strip away qualities she associates with femininity. She invokes the spirits while preparing herself to help carry out Duncan’s murder.
Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, a verse form widely used in English drama. Lady Macbeth’s shifts in rhythm and control stand out against the play’s verse framework.
Macbeth: A tragedy by William Shakespeare about a Scottish nobleman whose pursuit of kingship leads to tyranny and ruin. Lady Macbeth’s ambitions and decline unfold within this tragedy’s larger story.
Macbeth (character): The Scottish nobleman and central character of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who murders Duncan and becomes king. His growing resolve to commit violence contrasts with her later inability to bear its consequences.
Duncan’s Murder: The killing of King Duncan by Macbeth, which sets off the tragedy’s chain of violence. Lady Macbeth helps plan the murder and manages its immediate aftermath.
Soliloquy: A dramatic speech in which a character speaks thoughts aloud, often while alone onstage. Her private speeches expose desires and fears that she conceals from other characters.
William Shakespeare: An English playwright and poet whose works include Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear. Shakespeare created Lady Macbeth as a character whose actions drive the play’s opening catastrophe.
Lady Macduff: The wife of Macduff in Macbeth, whose family is murdered on Macbeth’s orders. Her domestic vulnerability provides a counterpoint to Lady Macbeth’s early rejection of conventional femininity.
“A Little Water Clears Us of This Deed”: A line in Macbeth spoken by Lady Macbeth after Duncan’s murder, expressing confidence that evidence can be washed away. The line captures her early belief that guilt can be controlled as easily as physical evidence.
Dramatic Irony: A contrast between what a character knows and what an audience or reader knows. Her confident plans create tension because the audience sees the danger and consequences she underestimates.

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