Student Question

What are five external descriptions of Lady Macbeth and two of Macbeth?

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Lady Macbeth is externally described through her actions and expressions: she reads a letter with imagined intensity, shows a respectful demeanor to King Duncan, faints dramatically upon hearing of the murder, appears crazed in Act 5, and carries a candle while lamenting about blood on her hands. Macbeth's external descriptions include his hallucination of a dagger, his blood-covered hands after Duncan's murder, his haggard appearance, and his visible terror upon seeing Banquo's ghost.

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A Shakespeare play like Macbeth does not have much in the way of stage directions or open descriptions of the characters, so you have to read carefully to catch a sense of their external appearances and expressions. Let's look at some possible sources for quotations you could use for this assignment.

We will start with Lady Macbeth. When we first see Lady Macbeth in act 1, scene 5, she is reading a letter. We listen as she reads out loud, and while we are not told of her expression, we can imagine it. However, Lady Macbeth presents a completely different picture when she greets Duncan . She is respectful, and Duncan praises her for her love and that of her husband. She even takes Duncan's hand at his request (definitely a description of external behavior) as they leave (see act 1, scene 6), but we know that this is...

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ironic, considering what Lady Macbeth has in mind for Duncan.

In act 2, scene 1, Macbeth asks, "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" Yet he is looking at nothing. We can imagine his expression as he contemplates his plan to kill Duncan and the guilt he is already feeling. In the next scene, the deed has been done, and Macbeth's hands are covered in blood. "This is a sorry sight," he says. In act 2, scene 2, Lady Macbeth puts on a good show of fainting when she "learns" of the murder, and she must be carried out.

One murder leads to another, and in act 3, scene 2, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are discussing their new plot to kill Banquo and his son. We get the idea that Macbeth is looking haggard, for his wife tells him, "sleek o'er your rugged looks." In act 3, scene 4, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, and his wife calls him "quite unmann'd in folly." His guilt is getting the better of him.

Of course, the same thing happens to Lady Macbeth in the end. The doctor and gentlewoman speak of her crazed condition at the beginning of act 5, scene 1. This is a prime spot for external descriptions as the two discuss Lady Macbeth's actions. The lady herself enters with a candle, speaking of the blood on her hands, blood that only she can see. Her guilt has driven her mad.

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