Macbeth LRJ#3

In Act 3 of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the audience become aware of shift in Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's characters. While previously Lady Macbeth appeared in control, now Macbeth begins to kill those he finds in his way, with no sign of repentance. In this passage, Lady Macbeth asks her husband on the following step of the plan, "What is to be done?/ Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck/ Till thou applaud the deed,"(3.3.47-49). The onlookers see as Macbeth completely omits his wife from the scheme and execution. This along with his guilt now apparently replaced by pride in his work, represents his metamorphosis into something less humane. The audience sees his very attempts to quell his insanity, are exactly what kindle it.

2.An image which strikes predominantly in Act 3 is that of sleep and lack thereof. Macbeth addresses the irony of his and his spouse's acts in the following excerpt, "Duncan is in his grave...he sleeps well," (3.4.24-25). Before this, Macbeth states that his guilt along with fear keep him awake; the author uses this image pattern to highlight the irony of Duncan's posthumous death, and Macbeth's distress although that very fact was meant to place him at rest.

3.The idea of "being a man" reoccurs often throughout the play, especially in respect to Lady Macbeth's dialogue with her husband. Whereas earlier we find his wife using the insinuation that he is not a proper man if he does not do something she specifies, we later find Macbeth using the same insinuation in company of the murderers, in order to get what he wants; " Now, if you have a station in the file/ Not i'th'worst rank of manhood, say't," (3.1.103-104). Shakespeare uses this theme to represent a common stereotype in human nature, that of how a male must meet undisclosed guidelines to be a true man. He also shows how easily men can be duped into doing someone's biding by calling out their masculinity.