What mark would you give this gcse essay? AQA macbeth june 2018

In Macbeth, Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a power-hungry woman with dominance over her husband which goes against the patriarchal ideology the Jacobeans had.

In Macbeth, the audience first sees Lady Macbeth in Act 1 scene 5, reading a letter from Macbeth who refers to her as “my dearest partner of greatness” which immediately puts Lady Macbeth on a pedestal as if she is almost equal to Macbeth. This could already make some of the audience perplexed as during the Jacobean period, men were meant to have more control in their relationship. When she finds out about the witches prophecies, she immediately demands, “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here”. Through imperative “Come” Lady Macbeth displays her commanding nature which goes against the idea of the natural order, which was prevalent during the Jacobean period as women were meant to be submissive. The fact that she is commanding the evil spirits also exemplifies her fearless and brave nature as she is shown not to be submissive towards anyone or anything. The fact that she is asking the evil spirits “unsex me here” also renders the Jacobean audience aghast as they realise that Lady Macbeth is asking to become sub-human in order to carry out her evil intentions, therefore going outside the natural order entirely showcasing her defiance to even God which displays her mighty nature.

Lady Macbeth is further shown to go against natural order in order to become more powerful through “the fatal entrance of Duncan …. Under my battlements”. Here she is shown to be absolutely certain that she will kill Duncan which shows how evil and wicked the idea of power has caused her to be. Moreover the use of the possessive determiner “my” when talking about her and Macbeth’s castle creates a sense of authority over her husband and demonstrates how she is taking control over everything in her grips which alludes to earlier on in Act 1 scene 5 when she soliloquises her desire for the evil spirits to “chastise the valour of my tongue”. The synecdoche of “tongue” highlights the power she has through her words which is heightened through the abstract noun “valour” which has connotations of bravery and defensiveness, relating to how she will do anything to steal the crown for her husband and gain power for herself. This also links to Act 2 scene 2 when Lady Macbeth demands “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers!”. The use of the exclamatory sentences here shows the aggression towards her husband which is another transgression towards the great chain of being and shows the power imbalance between them as Lady Macbeth continues to command Macbeth to do what she says. This also exemplifies her heartless nature, as this happens right after the murder of Duncan showing how she has the power to do evil and heartless acts without remorse.

This is an intertextual link to Act 1 scene 5 when she commands the evil spirits to “take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers”. There is a strong contrast employed here as “milk” has connotation of purity and innocence whereas “gall” has connotations of bitterness and poison. “milk “ was also associated with woman so the fact that she is asking the evil spirits to exchange this for poison could show her departure from femininity, which also goes against the natural order, but also shows her quest for power, which she gains, as femininity was seen as a sign of weakness in the Jacobean period as they thought that men were stronger and more dominant than women. Her power is further shown through the motif of milk earlier on in Act 1 scene 5 when she fears that Macbeth is “too full of the milk of human kindness”. SInce milk represents purity and innocence, irony is employed here as the implication is that Lady Macbeth has less “milk” (innocence) than Macbeth which further accentuates the power and dominion Lady Macbeth had over her husband.

However, later on in the play, Lady Macbeth’s power diminishes as she descends into madness. In act 1 scene 5, commands “come thick night” which demonstrates her embracement of evil and also shows that she is so powerful that she is able to command nature. Despite this, in Act 5 scene 1, when she is consumed with guilt, she is described (by her gentlewoman) to have “light by her continually” which could reflect Lady Macbeth’s fear of evil at this point of the play. Her mental deterioration is further shown through “out damn’d spot!”. The use of the imperative “out” combined with the exclamatory sentence could insinuate the longing for power that she has now lost and also shows the extent of her paranoia. Monosyllabic syllables, is also employed in her short soliloquy in Act 5 scene 1 which demonstrates her incapability to formulate wicked schemes and incapability to enforce her power like before through the “valour of my (her) tongue”.

Additionally, in the Act 1 and Act 2 , Lady Macbeth had long soliloquies with iambic pentameter which highlights the mightiness of her character however as the play progresses, she is nowhere to be found in Act 4 and has descended into speaking in prose and doggrell, as displayed through “the thane of fife had a wife where is she now” which mirrors her lost of power and status.

To conclude, even though Lady Macbeth is presented as an extremely powerful woman at the start, her guilt takes control over her and results in her downfall which serves as a warning to the Jacobean woman, to stay submissive and abide by the natural order.

Reply 1

arrow1801

Thats really good, its similar to where i was at when i sat this exam last year where i got a 9, so in my opinion this is probably grade 9 quality. However as i get closer to the exam i wrote essays on more focused themes where there is less to write and found this really helped me. Cant really improve it as i dont remember much :smile: