Macbeth is a play that starts with a successful couple and ends in a tragedy. Lady Macbeth, the wife of the ruthless soldier Macbeth, plays a key role in the play. Lady Macbeth is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. Unlike her husband, she lacks humanity as we see well in her opening scene where she calls upon the ‘Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts’. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage to kill Duncan, even though we know of his bloody deeds on the battlefield.…
The True Villain: Lady Macbeth “I like villains because there is something so attractive about a committed person. They have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They are motivated." (Russell Crowe). From the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character Lady Macbeth can be directly related to the quote.…
In Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s exchange of words in Act III, Scene 2, we see how she is persuading Macbeth to leave their crimes in the past, but it becomes known that he is planning future ones – without her. From this point on, Macbeth does not include her in future plans, and he now “serves as the driving force in their course of evil” (Morrow 98) while his wife sits at his side, ready to act when necessary. Stereotypes and gender roles are a major theme in this play. Given the time period, Lady Macbeth was expected to conform to one role, yet she defied society’s expectations. Even though Lady Macbeth consciously rejected her feminine side for a masculine one, she unknowingly used…
Masculine Mannerisms Gender roles have ruled society and normalities for both women and men for centuries. Men are expected to be dominant and willing to be violent, while women are supposed to be submissive and innocent. The expectations for both are very different, and straying from the norm has always seemed bizarre. Literature has become a way to stress the importance that gender roles have on society, as well as a way to show the alternation of characteristics between women and men. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the stark difference between womanly and manly qualities is an important theme.…
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth is a very ambitious man, with an equally ambitious wife who will stop at nothing to make sure she gets what she wants. Lady Macbeth,wife of Macbeth, is a very complex character, and over the course of the play, she displays on numerous occasions her ability to put on a strong and masculine face for Macbeth. While a major part of the play is Macbeth’s deep and dark desires to become king, Lady Macbeth also has secret ambitions of her own. Because of these ambitions, she manipulates Macbeth so that she can reach her own personal goals. She is able manipulate Macbeth in that she calls him a coward, she makes herself as ruthless as possible, and she questions his masculinity.…
In the Scottish tragedy Macbeth, William Shakespeare plays with gender roles typical of the Elizabethan era, by swapping the traditional attributes of men and women. In the society in which the play takes place, men reign supreme, independently making all decisions without consultation with, or affirmation from, subservient women. This is not the case with Macbeth, Thane of Cawdor. Instead, it is his wife Lady Macbeth, who assumes the dominant role in the marriage, defying historical gender stereotypes. Despite being the patriarch, and previously exhibiting his strength of will on the battlefield, Macbeth succumbs to manipulation by women, taking on a subservient role in his marriage.…
Throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a recurring theme is gender roles. For the duration of Macbeth the idea of how males and females behave are consistent. Macbeth derives its drama from the character’s ability to exploit one another based on their short comings in their particular role, either as a man or a woman. Examining the role of gender and its parallel with manipulation throughout Macbeth, we see the importance each male character places on his masculinity.…
In William Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, readers are given a twizzler of a tale that deals with masculinity and violence; written in approximately the year 1606. The questioning of gender roles, and what they are, have never hit a higher peak than that of in 2016. However, about 400 years ago, Shakespeare managed to capture the ambiguity of it all in one seamless sweep. Readers are introduced to some interesting characters in Macbeth who are known as the three weird sisters, who look neither man nor women.…
The women in Macbeth are presented by Shakespeare to be powerful and ambitious which was unlike the typical views during Jacobean times. The playwright portrays Lady Macbeth and the witches to be highly influential to male characters in the play, which again contrasts the contemporary views to that time. Their ambition and power are demonstrated through the perversion of nature. This highlights the evil and immoral side, they possess. Shakespeare, however, presented Lady Macbeth and the witches to be manipulative and cunning, rather than violent like Macbeth was during the play.…
The play ‘Macbeth’ predates the concept of feminism and therefore equality between the sexes both in the political and personal spheres was unheard of. As a result the women within the narrative are often marginalised and void of any power. In the cases where women do have influence they are either criticised and isolated or treated as strange, supernatural creatures. However, this would have conformed to the original audience’s expectations as women were seen as subordinate to men. Their responsibilities included managing the household, raising children and obeying their husbands; these were their only real roles in society, as a wife and a mother, and were inextricably associated with ideals of femininity.…
Often times in that era women simply followed suit to what the man said or did. We see a different attitude in Lady Macbeth. While Macbeth has a conscious of his own Lady Macbeth pushes and manipulates him into certain decisions and thought processes. Between the two of them readers will come to find that Lady Macbeth holds a more masculine attitude than her timid husband. Like in Act II when she is persuading Macbeth and says “We fail?…
Readers can appreciate Shakespeare’s masterpiece Macbeth without much knowledge about the beliefs and ideals of the time period, but possessing such knowledge provides a richer and more meaningful reading. One particular aspect that has been of critique in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is his representation of female characters, including the witches and the supernatural. Often individuals are quick to label Shakespeare as a chauvinist, but upon closer inspection, one can find instances where he creates female characters portrayed with much more depth than was typical in the literature of the time period. This portrayal is especially apparent in Macbeth. Throughout this play, women are given diverse personalities that create conflict in his plots.…
Before committing monstrous deeds, Lady Macbeth took away her femininity, as she ordered, “And fill me from the crown to the tow top-full/ Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood” (1.5.49-50). Lady Macbeth appears innocent, but in reality is fiercer than a man after she cast a spell to make her more evil. Shakespeare goes against gender roles during the Elizabethan time, to further the theme. She passes her malice onto Macbeth, as she exclaimed, “Look like th’ innocent/ flower,/ but be the serpent under ’t” (1.5.76-78).…
Through the endeavors of pain, empowerment forms Remarkably, the courageous Saint Joan of Arc was one of the first women to go against traditions of society and fought for her country and showed her power as a woman. Throughout history women have been portrayed as nurturing and the foundation of the family unit, yet weak and insignificant at the same time. Lady Macbeth and Joan of Arc rival the stereotypical woman. Yet, both women were instrumental in the influencing and portraying the true power of their era.…
However, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity with blatant aggression, brutality, and violence. Masculinity becomes a tool of manipulation to inspire blind ambition without honor. Yet women also contribute to the violence and evil in the play which is in contrast to the feminine nature. The witches’ prophecies spark Macbeth’s ambitions and encourage his violent behavior. Lady Macbeth bullies her husband to murder and controls him by questioning his masculinity.…