10th March 2017

Macbeth- Metaphor paragraph

“Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.”

Statement: In Lady Macbeth’s act she often useless metaphors to help express her ideas.

Example: For example, one of the metaphors she used when expressing her thoughts of killing King Duncan was when she was communicating with the spirits quoting “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.”

Explanation: In the quote she goes out of her way to state that she is a woman “come to my woman breasts”, this makes us as the audience question her actions, she is a woman commanding the spirits in a time when woman were much less superior. Her stating she is a woman reflects that she is confident. She referred to the spirits as “murdering ministers” and tells them to take her milk in exchange for gall, gall being a bitter substance from the gall bladder. As the audience we wonder why wants she wants gall, the reasoning behind her plans add an element to the scene that keeps us interested. Note: gall may be male substance and she is exchanging gall for milk to become more male so that she can complete that act of killing king duncan without remorse….. to be continued


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  1. You’re making good progress on this.

    If you can make mention of Shakespeare having Lady Macbeth say certain things it will strengthen the analytical aspect of the paragraph – as you’re then talking about the Author’s craft, seeing Lady Macbeth as a construct he is using to make a point.

    If women at the time were considered to be the weaker sex, then Lady Macbeth wanting to replace the milk of her breasts (usually associated with nurturing and life) with gall – a bitter yellow substance which would kill a child if you fed it to it – shows how she wants to acquire the qualities (or to demonstrate the qualities) usually associated with being male. It’s also interesting that she has no children herself.

    Does this make sense?



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About Fiona

Born in Christchurch, One of New Zealand's children, dweller of the south island, I enjoy being called Fi, thanks. Spelling needs work. Yep. Nice.