What is it about Macbeth that makes his wife fear her husband will not take the shortest path to the crown?
She is excited by the letter but fears that Macbeth is too ‘full of the milk of human kindness’ or of too good a nature, to take the shortest route to the crown which would be to eliminate the king and seize the throne. This convinces Macbeth that he is invincible as he would never be killed by another man.
Why is Lady Macbeth an important character?
Lady Macbeth is an important and memorable character in Macbeth because she sets up the story by persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan. Her role in the play also highlights Macbeth’s loneliness without her. Lady Macbeth is the catalyst for her husband’s downfall, as she pushes him to kill King Duncan.
What technique is too full of the milk of human kindness?
Personification
Why does Lady Macbeth fear that her husband is too full of the milk of human kindness?
Basically, Lady Macbeth thinks that her husband is weak, and that if there is violence to be done, he will not have the guts to do it. When she says that he is too full of “the milk of human kindness,” she is saying that he is too gentle to do what needs to be done.
Who says too full of the milk of human kindness?
Lady Macbeth’s
What did Lady Macbeth mean by unsex me?
In her famous soliloquy, Lady Macbeth calls upon the supernatural to make her crueler in order to fulfill the plans she conjured to murder Duncan. “… Unsex me here…” (1.5. 48) refers to her plea to rid of her soft, feminine façade and obtain a more ruthless nature.
Is too full of the milk of human kindness a metaphor?
‘Milk’ is a metaphor. We are somewhat surprised to hear from her that Macbeth is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”, because in the whole drama we find no trace of this milk of human kindness.
What are the actions that Lady Macbeth is referring to?
She cannot sleep in the dark: “She has light by / her continually” (lines 24–25). Lady Macbeth acts like she is washing her hands, trying to remove invisible blood (“Out, damned spot, out, I say!” line 37) and the smell of blood: “Here’s the smell of the blood still” (line 53).
How is Lady Macbeth portrayed as powerful?
Shakespeare shows how Lady Macbeth is a powerful woman through her ability to retain control of her emotions/sanity for longer than Macbeth, as evidenced through her taking control in the banquet scene.
How are Lady Macbeth’s actions ironic?
Lady Macbeth’s behavior expresses extreme amounts of guilt, while Macbeth, who only continues to kill, feels numb to the evil he is doing. Dramatic irony; she is apparently washing her hands, but the audience knows she is washing away the metaphorical spots of blood from her involvement in/guilt from the King’s murder.
What does the milk of human kindness mean?
Compassion, sympathy, as in There’s no milk of human kindness in that girl—she’s totally selfish. This expression was invented by Shakespeare in Macbeth (1:5), where Lady Macbeth complains that her husband “is too full of the milk of human kindness” to kill his rivals.