Big ideas
1. There are consequences to disrupting the natural order of being and
the natural order of the world.
2. There are consequences for engaging with the supernatural.
3. There are consequences for subverting gender roles
4. People are vulnerable to the destructive temptation of power.
Lady Macbeth
“unsex me here” - power = masculinity, needing to rid herself of femininity
(1.5)
“come you spirits”/“come thick night” - imperative, demanding, engaging
with the supernatural (1.5)
“what beast was’t then?” - emasculation and manipulation, power dynamic
(1.7)
“make thick my blood” - make her less human (1.5)
“too full of the milk of human kindness” - M is too cowardly, emasculation
(1.7)
“shame to wear a heart so white” - innocence of white, shameful for her -
masculinity she is stronger than him (?)
“plucked my nipple from its boneless gums…dash’d its brains out” -
violence, infanticide, power, subverting motherly role, desensitised, no
consideration (1.7)
“take my milk for gull” - replace something nurturing with something violent,
inhumane (1.5)
“then you were a man” - emasculation
“In rm of purpose” - @ M , he is a coward who can’t be brave enough to do
what he has to, emasculation (2..)
“perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” - guilt,
little=juxtaposition, vulnerable
“out damned spot out I say” - blood as a motif for guilt, hallucination,
religious imagery
trying to stay around the light frantically and desperately: trying to get God’s
forgiveness for her nihilistic beliefs and actions
fi
1. There are consequences to disrupting the natural order of being and
the natural order of the world.
2. There are consequences for engaging with the supernatural.
3. There are consequences for subverting gender roles
4. People are vulnerable to the destructive temptation of power.
Lady Macbeth
“unsex me here” - power = masculinity, needing to rid herself of femininity
(1.5)
“come you spirits”/“come thick night” - imperative, demanding, engaging
with the supernatural (1.5)
“what beast was’t then?” - emasculation and manipulation, power dynamic
(1.7)
“make thick my blood” - make her less human (1.5)
“too full of the milk of human kindness” - M is too cowardly, emasculation
(1.7)
“shame to wear a heart so white” - innocence of white, shameful for her -
masculinity she is stronger than him (?)
“plucked my nipple from its boneless gums…dash’d its brains out” -
violence, infanticide, power, subverting motherly role, desensitised, no
consideration (1.7)
“take my milk for gull” - replace something nurturing with something violent,
inhumane (1.5)
“then you were a man” - emasculation
“In rm of purpose” - @ M , he is a coward who can’t be brave enough to do
what he has to, emasculation (2..)
“perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” - guilt,
little=juxtaposition, vulnerable
“out damned spot out I say” - blood as a motif for guilt, hallucination,
religious imagery
trying to stay around the light frantically and desperately: trying to get God’s
forgiveness for her nihilistic beliefs and actions
fi
