Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth and Browning presents the speakers in Porphyria’s Lover, My Last Duchess and the Laboratory
Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth and Browning presents the speakers in Porphyria’s Lover, My Last Duchess and the Laboratory
Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in such a way that she is shown as a strong and powerful woman. Her ability to manipulate Macbeth to murder Duncan in order to get more power is a key example of this aspect of her character. Browning also presents his speakers in a similar way to Shakespeare through their need to control. The main way that both authors achieve this is through the use of language. Techniques such as rhyming couplets and semantic fields are used to emphasise the control that the characters have or want to achieve. Additionally, a range of imagery is used throughout all of the texts, allowing the reader to gain an understanding of the characters. In their writing Shakespeare and Browning don’t follow the general patriarchal society which makes the murders so horrific and odd as women weren’t generally thought of as thinking of murder or committing a murder.
Lady Macbeth tries to gain power by pushing Macbeth to murder Duncan, when she says she would have ‘dash’d the brains out, had [she] so sworn as [Macbeth]/ [Has] done to this’. This shows Lady Macbeth using horrific imagery to manipulate Macbeth into murdering Duncan as she is saying if she would ‘das[h]’ the brains out of her own child, he should be able to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth wants to be more masculine so she feels more superior to Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses violent imagery, which proposes that she isn’t the stereotypical woman that society suggests. The phrase ‘das[h] the brains out of her own child’ shows she is prepared to do anything to gain power. In the 17th century women were seen as nurturing and caring so to be thinking about murdering her own child would be seen as horrific. In a similar way Browning’s poem ‘The Laboratory’ also uses a variety of imagery; however here he particularly focuses on the imagery of death. The
Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in such a way that she is shown as a strong and powerful woman. Her ability to manipulate Macbeth to murder Duncan in order to get more power is a key example of this aspect of her character. Browning also presents his speakers in a similar way to Shakespeare through their need to control. The main way that both authors achieve this is through the use of language. Techniques such as rhyming couplets and semantic fields are used to emphasise the control that the characters have or want to achieve. Additionally, a range of imagery is used throughout all of the texts, allowing the reader to gain an understanding of the characters. In their writing Shakespeare and Browning don’t follow the general patriarchal society which makes the murders so horrific and odd as women weren’t generally thought of as thinking of murder or committing a murder.
Lady Macbeth tries to gain power by pushing Macbeth to murder Duncan, when she says she would have ‘dash’d the brains out, had [she] so sworn as [Macbeth]/ [Has] done to this’. This shows Lady Macbeth using horrific imagery to manipulate Macbeth into murdering Duncan as she is saying if she would ‘das[h]’ the brains out of her own child, he should be able to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth wants to be more masculine so she feels more superior to Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses violent imagery, which proposes that she isn’t the stereotypical woman that society suggests. The phrase ‘das[h] the brains out of her own child’ shows she is prepared to do anything to gain power. In the 17th century women were seen as nurturing and caring so to be thinking about murdering her own child would be seen as horrific. In a similar way Browning’s poem ‘The Laboratory’ also uses a variety of imagery; however here he particularly focuses on the imagery of death. The