Sunday, June 8, 2014

Does anyone have any ideas on a topic for a monologue spoken by the character of Lady Macbeth's Gentlewoman in Macbeth?

I think that the most evident topic for the Gentlewoman to
address is the mental decline of Lady Macbeth.  It becomes really apparent as the play
progresses that she is losing her grip on reality.  Given what she was at the start of
the drama to what she ends up becoming at the end of it, I think that it becomes
essential for her to be "spoken" for by someone, anyone who is seeing her devolve into
something so radically different from what she was.


Enter
the Gentlewoman.  She could speak in Act V as to how her "lady" is literally "losing
it."  It might be effective for someone like her to comment because there is no one else
who is going to be speaking for her.  Her husband, Macbeth, has "other things" on his
mind and really the servants would have to speak for her.  I think that articulating the
sense of helplessness both the Gentlewoman and Lady Macbeth display would be a suitable
topic.  In this, the Gentlewoman would be able to speak the words that the audience
feels at such an entropy of character.  The tone could be one of remorse, helplessness,
or even a sense of justice being established in a world where there is so little
righteousness in the face of wrong.  I would probably have the Gentlewoman speak these
lines before news reaches to her husband of his wife's death so that the audience can
see and contrast both reactions to the death of Lady Macbeth.

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