Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full / Of direst cruelty!
Act I, Scene 5 · Lady Macbeth
Context
After learning Duncan will arrive that night, Lady Macbeth calls on supernatural forces to strip away any traits that might prevent her from committing murder.
Analysis
The verb 'unsex' directly links gender to moral capacity: Lady Macbeth assumes that being female means feeling compassion, and that murder requires becoming male. The spatial metaphor 'from the crown to the toe' literalizes her wish to be filled entirely with cruelty, leaving no room for hesitation—the body itself must be transformed into a vessel for violence.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Lady Macbeth sees gender as the primary obstacle to power—her invocation exposes the play's assumption that femininity and ruthlessness are incompatible, a belief she must internalize in order to act.