Women In The Taming Of The Shrew

In 1606, when Shakespeare completed Macbeth, women’s opinions and advice were taken seriously, and satirical writing about how frivolous women were was common in the writing of the time, even in Shakespeare’s other play. The Taming of the Shrew, for example, is entirely about an uppity woman being put in her place by a good man, and any Shakespearean play with a strong female character offering useful advice either ends with her death in the tragedies or subdued in marriage in the comedies. Ophelia in Hamlet seeing through Hamlet’s insane act, Cordelia in King Lear telling her father not to be so careless with his kingdom in his old age, Juliet begging Romeo to wait until after the masquerade to kiss her in case someone saw them. Dead, banished, dead. But in the famed Scottish Play, Macbeth follows the advice and instructions of his wife and listens to the warnings of the female witches. While it’s true that Shakespeare was probably not warning against listening to magical prophesies, the fact that Macbeth changed his actions because of what they said makes Shakespeare’s …show more content…
Even after the witches’ first prophesy and his sudden title change to Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth is still unsure about his future and killing the king is far from his mind. But his wife’s advice changes his mind in a single conversation from him being content to wanting to commit regicide. Lady Macbeth actually talks about her worry that Macbeth might be too nice to go through with his plan, and says that “yet [she] does fear [Macbeth’s] nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness” (I.V.17). Trying to gain believability for her plan, she even asks spirits to “unsex” her and make her less like a woman to accomplish what need be done (I.V.41). Her logical instead of sexual persuasion towards her husband was masculine in how firm her opinion was, but that firmness was only temporary due to her