Literary devices in Macbeth act 1 scene 5

Shakespeare reveals Lady Macbeth’s assessment of her husband “yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness” (i.v line 14-15) suggesting that Macbeth is weak willed and he will not commit murder because he is too noble of a character. “milk” also suggests the motherly tone of Lady Macbeth, suggesting that Macbeth has not been brought up to be a brutal murderer but a man of honour, conveying the virtue of his character. It also foreshadows the destruction that Lady Macbeth will impose upon her husband therefore suggesting that she could be viewed as a ‘femme fetale’ figure. It is also revealed that Lady Macbeth wished to influence her desire for Macbeth to become King “that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valour of my tongue”(i.v line 28). Implying clearly that Lady Macbeth has a connection with the supernatural and foreshadows the taunts that Lady Macbeth will serve to Macbeth questioning his manlihood.

The communication with supernatural is evident in Lady Macbeth’s speech in Act 1 Scene 5 and there is many points that can be drawn out from the language, which also relate to structure and form. “Come you spirits” (i.v line 41), the physical act of summoning the darkness to fill Lady Macbeth could portray her as a Witch, moreover contextually the dealing with the ‘dark arts’ was seen as taboo and was forbidden. King James also believed at points in his life that he was controlled by witches, therefore Lady Macbeth may be controlled by the supernatural leading to her evil. “Unsex me here” (i.v line 40) the stripping of her feminine qualities displays a departure from the human realm, moreover it goes against the social norms of the time of women being meek and mild Lady Macbeth is presented as driven and wild. “Make thick my blood, stop th’access and passage to remorse” (i.v line 42-43), the use of symbolism in Macbeth is evident and ‘blood’ is a symbol for guilt, it is clear later on that Lady Macbeth may never be free of her shame. It also permits the passage of ‘natural spirits’ which could be attributed to feelings such as pain but also compassion, therefore leading to Lady Macbeth’s downfall as she becomes tormented with evil. Pathetic fallacy is also employed “come, thick night”(i.v line 49) it foreshadows the tumultuous affect that Lady Macbeth will have upon the decision concerning Duncan’s murder, moreover it stresses the gothic theme of darkness and concealment suggesting ultimately that Lady Macbeth from this point forth will be shrouded by darkness. Concealment it also reflected in the quote “my keen knife see not the wound it makes” (i.v line 51), equivocal to a conversation shared by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth later “your hand…look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” (i.v line 64-65). Both quotes refer to the conscience of the pair, but also their concealment towards the others in the play, riding them of guilt and shame. The reference to the serpent could be a reference to the biblical story of creation and therefore implying the much like Eve, Lady Macbeth has been tempted into the world of evil thus will pay for her transgressions.

The fact that Lady Macbeth has a prolonged speech, especially as a woman, displays her importance to the play and she builds up to the complication of the play, the exposition of her character is evident that she will be influential in the decisions of Macbeth. “O never shall sun that morrow see” (i.v line 59-60) the use of pathetic fallacy foreshadows the death of Duncan, but also the scheming nature of Lady Macbeth. Moreover the use of the sun highlights that they will be surrounded by darkness imperative to their characters but also through the progression of the play they will be plunged into a deeper darkness.

Here is a last detailed look at a key scene from Macbeth, at least for a while. This is our introduction to Lady Macbeth, and provides us with a sharp insight into her personality and attitudes. As I have been at pains to point out CIE IGCSE students need to be very aware of the four Assessment Objectives when they are writing examination essays. This piece below tries to show how to focus on these important key areas, while examining themes, characterisation, symbolism and a whole host of other literary techniques. I hope it proves of some use to those of you working away on the play at the moment.

1:5

Where we first meet Lady Macbeth, who is a reading a letter from her husband describing everything that has happened to him. Lady Macbeth anticipates her husband’s arrival, ahead of the king – who she plans to murder. Lady Macbeth reveals that she worries her husband’s nature is too decent to take the easiest way to the throne.

This is one of the pivotal early scenes in the play. We are given our first glimpse of Lady Macbeth and we most certainly learn a lot. This is a formidable, though ruthless and ambitious woman. Any exam question that focusses, even tangentially, on Lady Macbeth will have to reference this scene heavily. So, buckle up, pens at the ready, and I will break down the scene for you.

We are introduced to Lady Macbeth in Macbeth’s Castle at Inverness. She is reading a letter from her husband. This is Macbeth opening his heart to his beloved and as such affords us another few glimpses of his character and personality.

Some thoughts on prose versus verse
Interestingly the letter is written in prose? Why, I hear you ask? Generally, Shakespeare has his highborn characters speak in verse. Later, we will meet the drunken Porter, who like many lowborn characters, is given prose to utter. Shakespeare maintains this distinction throughout his plays. One notable exception is when Shakespeare is apportioning prose to character’s whose mental state is agitated or atypical. I think we can agree that Macbeth has been shaken by the witch’s visitation, the ambition warring in his heart and the roadblock that is the Prince of Cumberland which has been placed in his way. Seen in this light I think we can agree his state of mind is somewhat unusual – hence the use of prose.

Macbeth’s Letter to his wife
Macbeth reinforces that the witches ‘have more in them than mortal knowledge,’ which hammers home again how readily these medieval characters would have accepted the intervention of the supernatural in their lives. Contextually, fear of the Devil and his servants was widespread in the late Sixteenth Century, when Shakespeare was writing.
The man himself admits ‘I burned in desire to question them further.’ His ambition is laid bare by this metaphor, as is his frustration at their sudden disappearing act, when ‘they made themselves air.’

Macbeth goes on to recount how the ‘missives’ (messengers) from the king greeted him with the title – Thane of Cawdor, which the witches had promised him moments earlier. He finishes by pointing out how the witches also ‘referred me to the coming on of time’ by predicting he would eventually become king.

Macbeth wastes no time in getting word to his wife (‘This have I thought good to deliver thee’), who he refers to as ‘my dearest partner of greatness.’ This is interesting as it highlights the bond of closeness between the two of them. Macbeth (somewhat unusually for the time) clearly considers his wife an equal. Alternatively, some have seen in his eagerness to inform his wife the signs of a hen-pecked husband, a man under his wife’s control, who can do nothing without consulting her. My advice, let us take a little time to get to know both of them better before rushing to judgement.

Macbeth’s mind is clearly on the future here though. He doesn’t want his wife to ‘lose the dues of rejoicing’ or that she should be ignorant of ‘what greatness has promised’ her. That he sees the future in terms of a promise is telling. The witches honeyed words have clearly wormed their way into his heart. His eyes are most definitely on the prize (the crown, in this case). Has he been so seduced by the possibility of glory that he has thrown aside common sense? Well, he has committed his thoughts to writing, creating a record that might get him into trouble if they fell into the wrong hands. Though interestingly there is no actual mention in the letter that he plans anything illegal. Yet letters go awry after all. Shakespeare used this as a plot device more than once himself (see Romeo and Juliet for a tragic example). That being said, he exhorts his wife to ‘Lay it [this news] to thy heart,’ which is clearly a plea that she keep the information secret.

Lady Macbeth reveals her thoughts quickly:
1. She is determined Macbeth will get what was promised to him (the throne) – ‘Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What was promised.’ The enjambment here draws our eye again to this idea of a promise, a sense that this is all destined or pre-ordained.
2. She questions her husband’s fortitude, or cruelty perhaps, suggesting he is too squeamish to commit murder – ‘I fear thy nature/It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.’ Regicide is the quickest way to ascend the throne, yet lady Macbeth wonders whether this is something her husband will be able to stomach. This is a key insight in so many ways. She knows him best and wonders whether he has what it takes to kill in cold blood. Which is a sense speaks to Macbeth’s basic decency. Most people would likely shy from killing their king, their own cousin. Yet we have already seen that Macbeth is no stranger to killing. His sword ‘smoked with bloody execution’ in the battle earlier. He is a medieval general, a man used to wading through rivers of blood in his country’s defence. Yet the legalised murder of the battlefield is a far cry from a secretive stab in the dark. Interestingly Lady Macbeth’s mind races to ‘the nearest way,’ when thinking of how Macbeth might win what the witches promised. Murder is the first thing on her mind.
3. Shakespeare makes use of inversion when he has Lady Macbeth articulate her ‘fear’ for her husband. Ordinarily people worry about what others might do, what they are capable of. Here Lady Macbeth worries about what her husband might not be capable of.
4. She acknowledges her husband is a formidable man – ‘Thou woulds’t be great.’ She highlights that he is ‘not without ambition.’ Yet perhaps he lacks ‘The illness should attend it.’ What she means by this is that while her husband possesses ambition, the essential ruthless drive that accompanies such dreams of power is lacking in him. This puts me in mind of the most successful sportsmen and politicians. Often skill and talent are not enough. The very best and highest achieving people are often ruthlessly unlikeable, they will countenance any stratagem or ruse in the pursuit of victory. In this sense true ambition is an ‘illness,’ in that the innocent often suffer so that ruthless people can reach the very top.
5. Lady Macbeth surmises that her husband really wants to be king, yet he would have his ascendancy be free from evil doing. ‘What though woulds’t highly,/That thou wouldst thou holily.’ He will not ‘play false’ to win the throne (or so she thinks). Her language between lines 19-26 is very convoluted and complex. Scholars have argued endlessly over the exact meaning of what she says here.

Let’s take a look at them and try and parse them in the simplest terms.

‘What thy wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet would wrongly win. Thou’dst have Great
Glamis,
That which cries, ‘Thus thou must do’ if thou have it;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishes should be undone.’

I always imagine this is the section that the actress playing Lady Macbeth must worry themselves sick over. Try memorising that and speaking it aloud. This is dense writing by any standard. Remember you are sitting an IGCSE exam, you are not having to write a scholarly paper for a degree level dissertation. You simply have to get a sense of what this ambitious woman is driving at. So…what is she saying? I would paraphrase it simply as Lady Macbeth saying: you (Macbeth) would love to see the death of Duncan, an act that screams you have to do it, if you are to win the crown. This murder is something you are scared of committing, yet you would rather do it than see it left undone.

6) Lady Macbeth ends her musing by saying ‘Hie the hither,’ (get yourself home quickly)/That I may pour my spirits in thine ear.’ She is confident in her powers of persuasion and we may assume, the influence she has over her husband and her ability to direct his thoughts and actions. Does this make you think that Macbeth is a weak man, or one easily manipulated? She plans to encourage and direct him. She is presented here as the catalyst to all that will follow, the driving force behind the plan to murder the king. She plans to ‘chastise with the valour of my tongue/All that impedes thee from the golden round.’ The word choices here are all important and in focussing closely on them we will be focussing on the Assessment Objectives. ‘Chastise,’ is an interesting verb. It carries a negative connotation. We chastise children (tell them off) when they are misbehaving. This is an interesting way of seeing the relationship between the Macbeth’s. We know that she suspects his scruples and morals will get in the way of committing the necessary crime. Thus, she intends to chip away at his resolve and doubt. All she cares about here, it would seem, is the ‘golden round’ – the crown. Her sense of self is telling here – she believes the forcefulness of her words; the honeyed power of her rhetoric will be enough to overcome what ‘impedes’ her husband from doing what is needed.

7) Lady Macbeth seems convinced that ‘fate’ (theme) and ‘metaphysical aid’ (read: supernatural help) are on their side. That events appear to have been ordained. As I mentioned earlier each student will have to decide for themselves if Macbeth is something of a victim here, caught up in destiny’s weave, or if he does have agency of his own. At this point he is certainly facing pressure to do the wrong thing. The witches have presented him with a vision of the future that would have been very attractive, we now know his wife plans to encourage him to ‘catch the nearest way.’ Yet Macbeth himself has referenced his own ambition and hinted that he has considered the idea of kingship in the past. We are only five scenes into the play and yet already a complex picture is being presented. This is masterful dramatizing by Shakespeare.

So, our introduction to lady Macbeth encompassed only 28 lines, yet the picture of a domineering, ambitious, ruthless, pragmatic woman has been well established. We have also learned a little of the relationship between the Thane and his wife and seen how perceptive and thoughtful Lady Macbeth is. Onwards.

An Attendant informs Lady Macbeth that the king is paying them a visit that night. Macbeth will be following him. Lady Macbeth’s initial reaction ‘Thou’rt mad to say it,’ is very interesting. It links into the issue of fate mentioned earlier. Lady Macbeth would clearly see the hand of destiny at work here. No sooner has she received her husband’s letter than fate deposits the king at her doorstep. This really must seem as if it is written in the stars for Lady Macbeth. When she discovers that a messenger, ‘almost dead for breath’ has ridden his horse into the ground to deliver the message, she ensures he is to be looked after, for ‘He brings great news.’ Once more we dip into the theme of appearances. The servant would take it that his mistress is pleased at the great honour the king is paying her with his visit. Yet in reality the news is ‘great’ because it brings the plan, already forming in her mind, one step closer to completion.

The famous soliloquy she utters following the exit of the attendant, makes absolutely clear what she intends.

This next section is one of the Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquies. If you had any doubt about Lady Macbeth’s motivations and personality, then this speech will dispel them. Now that she is truly alone she can reveal her innermost thoughts. How she views Duncan’s visit is instantly clear. ‘The raven himself is hoarse/That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.’ The mention of the raven is subtle foreshadowing. Ravens were birds that carried a sinister connotation. It is often seen as a symbol of death. They often alight of corpses following a battle. Now, we have just witnessed a battle that featured plenty of corpses and the mention of the raven hints that another (royal) corpse is on the horizon. She mentions the ‘fatal’ entrance of the king. She has not doubt in her mind that Duncan’s arrival will be swiftly followed by his death. There is no wondering or deliberation here – she knows what she wants to do.

What follows is something of an incantation, an exhortation to the spirits of darkness and evil to give her the courage and resolve to do what must be done. Traditionally the speech has been seen as particularly shocking in that it sees Lady Macbeth renounce all the gentle traits people associate with women. That she appears to be selling her soul, inviting dark powers to possess her would have shocked the audience.
‘Come you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts’ is her first exhortation. She is making a direct plea to demonic forces, spectres and demons that plague mankind with evil thoughts and whispers. She asks them to ‘unsex me here.’ Now, we live in 2019 and we have developed a more nuanced understanding regarding the role of women, both as individuals and people in society. Yet in Shakespeare’s time things were somewhat different. Women were seen as the gentler sex, mothers and nurturers, homemakers. (A02 – context). They were expected to be gentle and demure, essentially subservient to their husbands. Consider how Old Capulet flies into a rage in Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet attempts to stand up for herself. (Intertextual link). Here Lady Macbeth turns all of that on its head.

She is demanding (a woman taking on power for herself) that her female traits be stripped from her, hinting at a feeling that they are symptoms of weakness. She has no use for kindness and gentleness, planning a murder as she is. What she asks is to be filled with ‘direst cruelty.’ This is heady stuff and she really lays it on thick. She asks the spirits to ‘make thick my blood,’ in essence blocking ‘th’ access and passage to remorse.’ What she wants is to be possessed by a fierce resolve, filled with hate and cruelty. To possess no feelings of regret or sympathy. Wow.

She is aware that feelings of guilt or worry may rise up to thwart her, so she demands to be made a vessel of cruelty, ‘so that no compunctious visitings of nature/Shake my fell purpose.’ Again we are seeing an inversion of what was commonly expected of a woman. She does not want her womanly nature to get in the way. This frames her wishes as unnatural, in the same way that the plotting of the disloyal thanes was seen as unnatural. This is carried to its conclusion when she demands the spirits ‘come to my women’s breasts/And take my milk for gall.’ This would have drawn a gasp from the audience. The nurturing role of the mother is being torn to shreds here. The milk that sustains an infant child is being transformed into a poison that will harden her resolve and allow her to do ‘fell’ deeds. The nature of masculinity and femininity is reflected upon throughout the play. It seems that feminine characteristics are something that might impede Lady Macbeth or else drive her from her purpose. She wishes to be sexless. Interestingly Macbeth and his wife argue later on the nature of masculinity, but more on this later.

Lady Macbeth calls for a smothering darkness (‘pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell’), so that none will witness what is to come. But this darkness will also ensure, ‘my [her] keen knife see not the wound it makes.’ There are two very interesting points to take from this line:

• Firstly, one might sense a scruple here, a fear of seeing the bloody nature of her handiwork. She wishes the king’s death, she wants to be queen, yet she also hints she would be happy not seeing the evidence of the crime. This is something of a wish to get the thing over with, to avoid facing the bloody evidence of murder.
• Secondly, she seems to be suggesting that she would carry the knife herself. She is asking for evil supernatural aid to allow her to murder Duncan.
That Lady Macbeth realises that what she plans is a shattering of the divine and natural order is clear. One of the reasons she wishes for a ‘pall,’ – a covering of ‘thick night,’ is so that ‘heaven’ will not ‘peep through the blanket of the dark to cry, Hold, hold.’ She intends to commit regicide. She knows that this would set the natural universe on its head and would thus be something heaven was against.

A brief comment on the supernatural.
We have noted that the audiences of Shakespeare’s day would have had a ready fear of the supernatural. Witches and other minions of evil were readily believed in. The Devil was thought to take an interest in the workings of the mortal world. Here we have Lady Macbeth referencing all manner of spirits, ‘murdering ministers’ that ‘wait on nature’s mischief.’ Beyond the bounds of the natural world, were believed to exists malevolent spirits who delighted in causing chaos and corrupting humans. Following the completion of Lady Macbeth’s speech/incantation her husband arrives. Lady Macbeth’s words to Macbeth hauntingly echo the predictions of the witches. ‘Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor/Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter.’ She lets him know, in a flowering metaphor, how his letters have ‘transported me beyond/This ignorant present.’ The hope it has kindled in her heart has allowed her to ‘feel now/The future in the instant.’ To my mind it seems as if Lady Macbeth has taken the prophecy of the witches as a sign of fate’s favour.

We see once more the great love and respect Macbeth feels for his wife – ‘My dearest love.’ After letting his wife know that the King is coming, she gets straight down to business. When informed Duncan plans to leave tomorrow she says – ‘O never/Shall sun that morrow see.’ If she has any say in the matter tonight will be his last night on earth.
Now, is Macbeth shocked that his wife would set this out so plainly? I think so. Perhaps he has underestimated his wife’s own ambitions. Perhaps he does not know her quite as well as she appears to know him. Has she hidden her darker ambitions from him throughout their marriage? She says, ‘Your face, my thane, is a book where men/May read strange matters.’ It is fair to assume that he has a shocked look plastered on his face or is at least showing signs of surprise or bafflement. Shakespeare is drawing our attention, once more, to the theme of appearances. His wife quickly puts him straight. ‘To beguile [trick] the time/Look like the time.’ She is saying that if he is to fool everyone else he will have to wear a metaphorical cloak, he will have to seem just like everyone else in the royal party, happy and content that the king is paying them a visit. He must choose and expression that fits the circumstances. In short, he will have to act.

What follows is one of the most quoted lines in the play – Macbeth will have to ‘look like th’innocent flower/But be the serpent under’t.’ Shakespeare, with this clever simile, is playing with words once more. Macbeth will have to deceive Duncan, who famously has no power to ‘find the mind’s construction in the face.’ The two contrasting flora and fauna images are telling. The flower is a symbol of purity and life, this is how he must appear. Yet in his heart he will have to adopt the persona of the ‘serpent,’ an ill-omened creature and a powerful symbol of deceit, associated closely with Satan. Appearances (theme) are never far away in this play.

You can look at Lady Macbeth’s comment that follows in two ways. ‘He that’s coming/Must be provided for.’ Perhaps she is simply being literal, in the sense that they will have to make hasty preparations for the king’s arrival. However, she may be engaging in a little cruel, gallows humour. By provided for, read: killed. The use of enjambment – focussing our eye on the forceful word ‘must’ seems to be Shakespeare nodding his head at the idea of fate once again.

She follows this by once again asserting her authority. ‘You shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch.’ Once again, this line demands to be turned over and considered from a number of viewpoints.
• Lady Macbeth presents this as a statement, she assumes command – ‘You shall.’ The tone of this depends on the delivery of the actress playing the role. Either it could be seductively whispered – a sort of leave all this to me, to sooth her troubled husband’s worries or perhaps gruffly barked – this is my job and you will leave it to me to arrange. Shakespeare’s subtle use of language (especially where verbs are concerned) allows for this ambiguity. An astute student should be aware of such playfulness with language. Remember what I said about authorial intention earlier – ‘An important aspect of responding to literary texts is to consider how a writer sets out to create a certain response in the reader. This consciously ambiguous writing is part of the reason his plays still resonate centuries after they were first performed.
• What is beyond doubt is that Lady Macbeth is taking charge. Either she means that she will look to the details in general, or else she personally intends to ‘dispatch’ (get rid of) Duncan herself. One meaning of the verb is to kill swiftly.

That the thought of the crown is almost blinding her is clear from the line where she says the business she has spoken of ‘shall to all our nights and days to come/Gave solely sovereign sway and masterdom.’ On a literal level she is broadly saying that the throne shall be their chief concern from here on. The way she speaks the line (and the mention of ‘sovereign’ – another of Shakespeare’s deliciously loaded words), suggests she sees a golden future for the new power couple of Scotland. The dramatic irony is that every moment of their future lives (every ‘night and day’) will indeed be taken up with reflecting upon, thinking about and worrying over what they have done. It will literally be the death of her peace of mind. Her guilt will assume the ‘masterdom’ of her mind. Having read the whole play you all know this.

Macbeth only provides a brief reply to what is essentially his wife telling him – don’t stress, I’ll murder the king, you just leave it all to me. How would you have reacted should you have been placed in his shoes? ‘We will speak further.’ Is he just trying to get her to shut up? Is he hoping the thing will all just blow over? Shakespeare does not give us too much to go on here. His wife simple tells him to maintain the pretence of loyalty they discussed earlier – ‘look up clear.’ As for everything else she simply says – ‘Leave all the rest to me.’

So, you can see just how much Shakespeare plays with words, threads his thematic concerns into the scene, develops character, foreshadows future events, provides social and historical context – all in a scene that is only 75 lines long. As a dramatist Shakespeare delights in playing with the expectations of his audience. In doing so he gives you a chance to show an awareness and understanding of all four of the Assessment Objectives. The fact that I have taken 4115 words to analyse the scene highlights the depths of the writing here.

What is a literary device in Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5?

What is the dramatic irony in Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5?

What is the theme of Act 1 Scene 5 in Macbeth?

What does Lady Macbeth foreshadow in Act 1 Scene 5?