Macbeth Rhetorical Questions

Kennedy Shank Mr. Samek ELA 10 18 May 2023 Lady Macbeth was talking to Macbeth about murdering King Duncan due to Macbeth considering backing out; Lady Macbeth uses ethos, pathos, questions, and imagery to convince Macbeth of killing King Duncan. In Act I Scene VII, Lady Macbeth addresses Macbeth regarding killing King Duncan. The thought came up when Macbeth received a prophecy saying that he would be King, which then led to him wanting to be King sooner rather than later. After Macbeth brought the idea up to Lady Macbeth, she was on board to go ahead with it and, at the time, so was Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth uses the persuasive techniques word choice, name-calling, and urgency to manipulate Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. She uses word choice many times throughout Act 1 to manipulate him. Lines 54-59a in Scene 7 is a great example of her word choice. These lines read, “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out had I so sworn as you have done this.”

Macbeth, like many of Shakespeare’s creations, is a tragedy, but this one isn’t about young tragic love like Romeo and Juliet but about a man hungry for power, driven to commit the act of murder. The play Macbeth uses many rhetorical devices such as repetition, tone, metaphor, and lastly pathos. These rhetorical devices are used to extend the feeling of sadness and loss that Macbeth feels but also to show moments of weakness and insanity. These rhetorical devices are used all throughout the play of Macbeth but in this essay, I will be focusing on their use of them in act 5, scene 5. This scene is played right before the conclusion of the play it is also after we find out about the death of Lady Macbeth.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/ Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” In this couple of lines we see repetition through the questions Macbeth is asking himself if he is able to kill Duncan. To add on through the questioning we see Macbeth

Macbeth is first introduced as Thane of Glamis, who goes to war leading the Scottish troops to victory over invading forces. On his arrival after successfully winning the battle, he meets the witches who hail him by his first title Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and King. This last title confused him; he wondered how he would be king if King Duncan is alive. He then sends a letter to Lady Macbeth about this revelation in which she is sold in by the thought of being queen, leading her and Macbeth to plot and execute the killing of King Duncan.

Lady Macbeth accuses Macbeth of not being man enough and calls him a coward because he is unsure about killing King Duncan. Macbeth responds by reassuring her he is willing to do what is necessary to be a man and eventually

After hearing of the witches' prophecy, Lady Macbeth manipulates and belittles her husband to convince him to carry out his plan against Duncan. She tells him, “Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valor / As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, / And live a coward in thine own esteem” (1.7. 39-43). She expresses her belief that Macbeth should be willing to do whatever is necessary to get what he wants.

Some may argue that Macbeth was simply being strategic in his actions. Macbeth's manipulation is often morally reprehensible and results in the suffering of innocent people. Therefore, people may not find the argument valid. Macbeth attempts to control the future and bury the past through various means, including the murder of Duncan, the manipulation of others, and the avoidance of confrontation with his guilt. Macbeth desires to control the past and the future by killing King Duncan because he believes that by doing so, he can alter the course of his own destiny and fulfill his ambition of becoming

Macbeth is an honourable and great warrior, as his role as Thane of Glamis is derived from his position as the chief of his clan. As the play progresses, Macbeth becomes submissive to Lady Macbeth’s decisions when directing the plan for

Macbeth is one of the most important characters in the story “Macbeth”. The name “Macbeth” means ‘son of life’ in Gaelic. He is a scottish general and the thane of Glamis. In the beginning of the play, he is shown as a brave soldier and a powerful man by showing his military achievements such as by destroying and having victory over the rebel Macdonwald and Cawdor. Macbeth fights with a great courage and violence in the battle and receives the thane of Cawdor.

Rhetorical Précis Mitch Tuchman in the article, The Real Macbeth, explains that Shakespeare's Macbeth and the people in Shakespeares play Macbeth weren’t actually anything like the real people of that time. This is described in the article by giving examples of how Shakespeare said Macbeth was and then how Macbeth actually was. Tuchman supports his claim by stating the history of what had happened at that time. First the author describes how Shakespeare described Macbeth in his play. Shakespeare described Macbeth as “courageous yet irresolute, ambitious yet gullible, violent yet not unremorseful man” and Shakespeares Duncan was described as “a vernerable monarch”.

In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is an ambitious Scottish warrior who receives a royal prophecy from the three witches that he will become the King of Scotland. The first step in Macbeth's rise to power is the death of the current King, Duncan. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth contemplate carrying out Duncan's murder when visiting their castle, but Macbeth decides against it. To influence Macbeth into the murder, Lady Macbeth plays with the strict gender roles set by society. While initially, Macbeth appears to embody the ideal man, Lady Macbeth manipulates him by questioning his manhood, resulting in mayhem.

In Act I, scene VI of TheTragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth’s speech to illustrate her dominance and effective emotional manipulation of Macbeth. First, Lady Macbeth uses a series rhetorical questions mocking him for going back on his word. She says, “Were you drunk when you seemed so hopeful before? Have you gone to sleep and woken up green and pale in fear of this idea?” With these questions, Lady Macbeth makes him feel small, reminding him that he already said he would do it and that he would be dishonoring his word out of fear.

Langis wrote, “Herself engrossed in emulous rivalry, Lady Macbeth, as wife and helpmate, uses her incredible rhetorical power to aid Macbeth towards the crown,” (48). Lady Macbeth learns that she could also be in power and becomes obsessed with the idea of coming into this power. The problem is that the only way for the couple to come into power, they need to kill Duncan. Macbeth proves several times within Act 1 that he is far too scared to kill. Every single time Macbeth shows he is vulnerable she uses rhetoric to pressure and persuade him into committing the crime.

In this soliloquy, Macbeth is weighing the pros and cons of the assassination, he is considering the consequences of the murder and the fact that it could secure his ambition, but he also thinks about the moral implications of his actions and the guilt he will have to live with. This quote shows Macbeth's inner turmoil and his contemplation to commit the