In his tragic play Macbeth, William Shakespeare features a compelling character in the form of Lady Macbeth, wife to the play’s protagonist, where she is depicted as being deeply disturbed. Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy is about Macbeth’s bloody rise to power, involving the brutal murder of the King of Scotland, Duncan, and the guilt ridden pathology of evil deeds where Lady Macbeth is integral in orchestrating an unnatural, phantasmagorical realm of madness due to her perpetual thirst for power. The two writers, Shakespeare and Browning, reveal three characters who can all be perceived as characters with an insane and murderous mind signifying their disturbed persona. Porphyria’s Lover is a dramatic monologue which features a male Speaker intent on murder in order to preserve love forever whilst The Laboratory is also a dramatic monologue which encompasses a female Speaker intent on revenge for a perceived betrayal. The…show more content… In Act 1, Scene 5, the scene is littered with imperatives such as “look”, “bear” and “be”. Although still gentle prods, these commands manipulate and shape Macbeth’s thinking. The language used in this passage would have unquestionably shocked the viewers of the play; a woman commanding her husband would have been a horrifying, unheard-of perversion. The tone used is also similar to the way that one would speak to a social inferior. She behaves more like Macbeth’s keeper or parent rather than a spouse. It is as if she deems him unworthy of making his own decisions, as if he needs to be ordered around. Therefore, a woman speaking in this manner would be rather controversial, horrifying the audience with the knowledge that a woman is allowed so much independence and parity. The portrayal of this unnatural order in human relationships is therefore viewed as disturbing by the