Lady Macbeth's Speech Analysis

As revealed by his speech immediately following Macduff’s flight to England, Macbeth, the newly crowned King of the Scots, acts spontaneously, without serious rational thought. In the “Castle of Macduff” speech (Act IV.i 144-156, Macbeth decides to fully discharge any previous ability to reason. Immediately, he challenges “Time” (allegorical figure), which he sees as an adversary, trying to stop him from ever acting on his thoughts. Furthermore, he uses the specific diction of “dread” and “flighty,” implying that his actions must be fulfilled before reason forces them out. As the Tyrant Macbeth continues to analyze his past way of life, he describes his old ideas as “o’ertook” in the passive voice; he is not able to put direct action into his …show more content…
While giving the “Stern’st good-night” speech (Act II.ii 1-8), Macbeth’s wife must force reason out of her mind as the adrenaline from assisting in the murder of Duncan dwindles. In committing to this act, Lady Macbeth “violates” her greatest duty by “urging” this crime and, thus, is at the center of its execution (Klein 168). Feeling the slightest inklings of regret, she begins by preemptively separating herself from the average person by using the demonstrative pronoun, “that.” Attempting to fortify this separation, the Lady tries to contrast the effect of alcohol on others, “drunk,” with alcohol’s effect on her, “bold”; however, these two effects are nearly one and the same. This weak contrast cannot satisfy her; she makes a second attempt at dichotomy, stating that while alcohol has “quench’d” others, it has given her “fire.” Another failure, given that alcohol, when poured on any small flame, will combust itself and expand the fire. After two failed dichotomies, she interjects, “Hark! Peace!” hoping to push these thoughts out of her mind and justify the murder of the King to herself from a blank starting point. Lady Macbeth begins again with the unreferenced pronoun “it.” From this point, her argument has already failed. Lady Macbeth has no foundation to build on. She will not be able to use reason to justify this murder, but she still tries. She marks the …show more content…
In the closing soliloquy of the play, the “Be Earls” speech (Act V.viii 60-75), the King establishes English rule, then moves from a condemnation of the savagery of the previous monarchy to an outline for his rule to come. As Macduff did, the good King uses a first person plural pronoun, specifically, “We.” He has the utmost respect for the well-being of his people. Further demonstrating this respect, Malcolm equates time to money in a metaphor expressing his desire not to “spend a large expense” of his people’s time; the young King understands what is valuable to them. Then, he releases the final blow to the old Scottish ways by renaming the thanes of Scotland by the specific title of “earls.” He expels the old title for the new; a Scotland without English influence is gone. Establishing this new paradigm, the good King uses the diction of “plant[s]” to represent the foreign roots growing through the country and “abroad,” referencing the international mixture of the returning Scottish nobility. Once firmly in his position of power, Malcolm turns to attacking Macbeth and his wife with the purpose of contrasting his superior ruling ability. He employs the dual metaphor-epithet comparing Macbeth’s rule to “the snares of watchful tyranny;” the previous King trapped his people in oppression. Two more epithets, “butcher”