Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

ISOLATION MACBETH ESSAY QUESTION - 2014 Q1

KIRSTY CLYNE

In William Shakespeare's “Macbeth” one of the main characters, Lady Macbeth, experiences
isolation as the play progress
...
Her becoming more isolated helps to create a more three-dimensional character and also
helps to emphasise the theme of conscience throughout the play
...
She is shown to be able to
easily manipulate him, as she knows that by calling him a coward he will do whatever she is
asking of him
...
As this is not the case at all,
Macbeth therefore agrees to kill Duncan
...
Although after she initially talk about her plan of killing Duncan and
Macbeth says they “will speak further”, Lady Macbeth can tell that he is considering her plan
and reassures him that he should “leave all the rest to {her}”, helping to convey the trust that
Macbeth has in his wife and again helps to show how close they are
...


After this point in the play, Lady Macbeth starts to deteriorate and shows more signs of
becoming isolated from Macbeth
...
During Act 3, Macbeth decides to have Banquo
murdered but does not inform Lady Macbeth of this decision, showing the start of her isolation
from him
...
Lady Macbeth therefore asks what's going to be done, but her husband answers, "Be
innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the deed” and ignores her
question, pushing her ever so slightly away from him and isolating her a little bit more
...

While planning to meet with the murderers he has hired to kill Banquo and Fleanace, Macbeth
tells Lady Macbeth and the Lords present that "Let every man be master of his time /Till seven
at night” and dismissed all of them, including her
...


This isolation can also be conveyed during the Banquet scene, and after Macbeth becomes
delusional from seeing Banquo’s ghost, the audience can tell that Lady Macbeth no longer has
anything left to keep him rational and instead just tells him that he “lack{s} the season of all
natures” and demands he gets some sleep
...
This is the last time that we see the once strong couple together, and they
have now almost cut all ties with each other
...
As Macbeth has distanced her from himself, she herself has became a state of
isolation and loneliness
...
She is constantly trying to wash away imaginary blood from her
hands, and is seen scrubbing at the clean hands and saying “here’s a spot” despite there
being no trace of Duncan’s blood on her
...
She
is seen carrying a light wherever she goes as she can no longer walk in the darkness due to
having killed Duncan in the darkness
...
As Macbeth has
all but abandoned her, she has no-one to talk to about her nightmares and fears, and therefore
the isolation has worn her down
...
This adds to one of the
final points regarding conscience in the play, as it shows that even the strongest of characters
can be ruined by too much of it, and it also helps us to understand that although Lady Macbeth
was ruthless at the start, she relied on Macbeth much more than she originally let on
...




---