How does Shakespeare present good and bad in his characterization of Lady Macbeth?

Shakespeare presents both the good and bad sides of Lady Macbeth's character by showing his audience what she is like when she's alone, or when she thinks she's alone, because that is when she can be her true self without attempting to hide or persuade.

First, in her response to Macbeth's letter in Act 1, Scene 5, we see some of her worst qualities displayed. She is manipulative, wishing her husband home so that she can "pour [her] spirits in [his] ear" and coerce him to commit to the violence she plots against the king (1.5.29). Her concern that he is "too full o' th' milk of human kindness" to commit such violence without her coercion shows that she lacks (or wishes to lack) such kindness or compassion (1.5.17). Lady Macbeth jumps to murder right away, whereas it took Macbeth some time to consider it. She calls Duncan's arrival at their house his "fatal entrance," indicating that she has already begun to plot his murder (1.5.46). Finally, she begs for deadly spirits to "fill [her] from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty" so that she can advance her plan without emotion or hesitation (1.5.49-50). Her speech while alone on stage shows her to be ruthless, deadly, and ambitious to the point of avarice.

Second, in her sleepwalking scene, when she is unaware of the presence of others, we see an unadulterated version of Lady Macbeth as well. Here, we can tell that she does, in fact, have a conscience and that she does feel incredibly guilty. She imagines that she cannot wash Duncan's blood from her hands, crying, "Out, damned spot, out, I say!" (5.1.37). Moreover, she obviously regrets the monster that she helped to create out of her once-kind husband, Macbeth, as she laments the death of Macduff's wife and children: "The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is / she now?" (5.1.44-45). These were senseless murders by which Macbeth had nothing to gain. His ruthlessness is the result of Lady Macbeth's shaming and prodding of him. He was not so before. Her ability now to feel regret, compassion, and guilt, shows us her softer side, the side of herself that she attempted to hide when she prayed for manlike strength and mercilessness prior to Duncan's murder.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

Notes

Search This Blog