In Scene 7 of Act 1 of "Macbeth", Lady Macbeth uses persuasive language to transform Macbeth from a man full of trepidation to a hardened murderer, ready to commit regicide . It does this in various ways. The work was extremely controversial at the time; this is because it effectively reversed society's gender roles. These roles were imprinted into the very fabric of the medieval community; women were seen as inferior to males and were brutally oppressed by the largely patriarchal society. Consequently, Shakespearean audiences would be shocked by the role reversal depicted in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth often uses abusive language, aiming to insult Macbeth's masculinity. One example where he does this is when he says “Are you afraid of being the same in your act and value as you are in desire?” She is asking him if he is afraid to be as brave as he wants and loves her. This was evidently designed to get Macbeth to take revenge and, to prove his masculinity, he would murder King Duncan. Another way Lady Macbeth insults him is when she says "Live like a coward in your own estimation", this means Macbeth will be a coward. if he fails to assassinate the king. In a conventional Shakespearean couple, a woman would never call her husband a coward; it was unspeakable. This emphasizes Lady Macbeth's masculinity and shows her dominance in the marriage. The word “live” is used which, perhaps subliminally, tells Macbeth that they would survive the murder and subsequent events. Lady Macbeth is saying that Macbeth will live as a coward if he is content with his "golden opinions" and his lordship over Cawdor. In his soliloquy, Macbeth indicates to the audience his clear reluctance to kill the king, as he thinks that… . half of the paper......and alchemical tools. The most common form of alchemy was to try to turn a base metal, which was typically lead, into gold, Lady Macbeth may have referred to Duncan as "lead" which would be replaced by "gold", Macbeth, the "receipt “ ” and the “limbeck” are the tools they would use to achieve this. The final words of Act 1 scene 7 are Macbeth pledging to murder his king. This completely overturns his previous doubts and fears He is asserting his wife's power over him and his overall dominance over the relationship that "the false face must hide what the false heart knows", this has an element of certainty, further proving that he has now taken on the role of the assassin. He is no longer the frightened man who uttered the soliloquy at the beginning of the scene; Lady Macbeth's power over rhetoric has transformed him into a murderer of kings.