Lady Macbeth
The play Macbeth is well known for its abundant use of imagery. Imagery is used for numerous reasons such as to convey certain visions to the audience and to give life to the play. One major use of imagery can be seen with the character of Lady Macbeth. Her characterization is strongly dependent on imagery and progresses dramatically with the advancement of the play. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is introduced as a dominant, controlling, heartless wife with an obsessive ambition to achieve kingship for her husband. After she learns of her husband's plan to murder Duncan, she realizes that her husband is not man enough to commit the murder. She believes he "...is too full o' th' milk of human kindness..."(I.v.15), and he would be great except he is "...not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it..."(I.v.17-18). Lady Macbeth is clearly presented as the dominant person in the relationship; which, is a reversal of the stereotypical roles of the time. She is presented as one of the strongest characters featuring in the beginning of play. In Lady Macbeth's famous "unsex me" speech, we are presented with many images of her wanting to be de-womanized, guiltless, and fearless, like a man. She declares "unse
The couple's ambitions, although obsessive, are a characteristic of human nature. Possibly as a result of these many factors, Lady Macbeth ends her life and Macbeth is forced to ponder his own existence as well. One of the strongest characters of the beginning of the play brings about her own destruction that leads to her death. She feels that she must cleanse herself of these sins. She no longer wants her womanly emotions and desires for her compassion to be replaced with cruelty. What, will these hands ne'er be clean. She reinforces her statement by saying "Come to my woman's breasts, /And take my milk for gall. He begins to plan the murders without even consulting her, and she becomes more passive towards him. She is obsessing over trying to become wholesome again. Towards the end, we notice that Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking, and she is afflicted with hallucinations of guilt as a result of all the murders.
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