Lady Macbeth

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses misogyny and xenophobia, physical and sexual violence (including rape), and ableist language.

Ava Reid uses animals throughout the book as a motif that explores The Origins of Individual Identity and Humanity. For instance, Roscille characterizes both herself and others in terms of different animals, showing how she feels she is immersed in a dehumanizing culture in which the struggle to survive trumps human connection. She selects animals whose characteristics relate to how she sees people’s identities. The ermine, or weasel, is a symbol of cunning and intelligence. This animal features on her father’s coat of arms, and she has always seen herself as inheriting its (and his) traits. However, amid her sense of betrayal and feelings of helplessness, she sometimes loses her identification with this animal, though her final triumph over Macbeth proves the comparison apt.

Roscille also compares herself to a bird, recalling the beautiful bird Macbeth killed during the wedding ceremony. This gesture purportedly symbolizes his power to protect her but also carries implicit threat, representing his physical dominance over his new wife. The bird’s death, bleeding through its white feathers, foreshadows the violent ending of her innocence both through her rape and through her own participation in violence.