In Act 1 Scene 7, Shakespeare effectively uses a variety of persuasive techniques to convey how Lady

Macbeth truly feels about her husband’s indecisiveness and to portray her as a confident and assertive
character, who makes use of logical thinking, strategies, and manipulation, using Macbeth as a
steppingstone to gain power and authority.

Throughout the scene we can see Lady Macbeth ridiculing and provoking her husband, questioning his
masculinity by consistently making remarks such as “art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act as
thou art in desire?” Lady Macbeth’s constant use of rhetorical questions shows us that she is
intentionally trying to cause her husband confusion, doubt, and stress. She shifts the authority in their
relationship, not even giving him the chance to talk back to her or stand up to her. By doing this, she
takes on the typically ‘male’ role in Jacobean society.

By asking him if he’s afraid, Lady Macbeth heavily implies that she has lost her respect for him and that
she believes that he is a coward. We know that Macbeth is supposed to be a brave and strong warrior or
soldier, and that he is meant to be fearless. That is what he expected of himself and that is what
Jacobean society expected of him. In a Jacobean society, men were supposed to be dominant and
superior to women. They were supposed to be powerful, assertive, confident, and fearless. However, in
this scene, Macbeth is the complete opposite or the antithesis of a Jacobean man.

Lady Macbeth knows this, and proceeds to take advantage of his kind nature, playing on his insecurities.
She pressures him by asking where his “former boldness” has gone, further implying that he’s ‘not the
man he used to be’. This would have confused or angered the audience, because Lady Macbeth creates
a huge contrast here between the proud and victorious Macbeth we see at the beginning of the story,
returning from battle and this ‘new’ Macbeth we see here, struggling to stand up to his own wife who
was supposed to have no ambition and simply obey male authority figures.

By using the phrase “At what it did so freely” and the simile “like the poor cat i’ the adage”, Lady
Macbeth further builds on the contrast she created between Macbeth’s ‘former’ bravery and his now
‘cowardly’ attitude. She calls him pathetic indirectly by comparing him to the noun ‘cat’ which can be
associated with helplessness and powerlessness. She refers to him as the cat who wanted fish but
refused to wet its paws, referencing his indecisiveness, a trait that he is aware of and constantly trying
to get rid of.

Throughout the extract we can see Lady Macbeth repeatedly using direct address, using phrases like
“thou” and “thine”, in order to make Macbeth feel like its him who wants this, when in reality its her
dream and she wants this. She sees Macbeth’s instability and weakness as an advantage to her and
makes use of the influence she knows she can have on him. They lived in a patriarchal society, and the
only way a woman could achieve power was through her husband, so that’s exactly what Lady Macbeth
does here.