Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as an eloquent and pernicious character, between being a villain and a victim of her villainy, both manipulating and manipulated. Throughout the tragedy of ‘Macbeth’, she never actually kills anyone, in fact she cannot bring herself to commit the deed. Despite being responsible for instigating the idea of murder to Macbeth, she refers to the death of Duncan as ‘it’, indicating a hesitant confirmation of the deed. Would Macbeth himself alone have committed the murders of Shakespeare’s tragedy? Shakespeare suggests that Lady Macbeth simply awakens the dormant beast within Macbeth. Are the weird sisters responsible for the destiny that befalls Macbeth or would fate simply have him crowned? Is Lady Macbeth just
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She rebelliously forms an independent mentality, wielding her femininity like a sword, striking with her cunning expertise. The Scottish Protestant leader John Knox said in ‘The First Blast of the Trumpet’ (1558) that, ‘Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man,’ and this was widely believed in Elizabethan and Jacobean society. Macbeth refuses to even consider murdering Duncan, however his ‘partner in greatness’ uses Macbeth’s need to maintain his image of a ‘real man’, against him. Here, Shakespeare redefines both gender roles by explaining the nature of femininity and masculinity. Since her husband is an acclaimed warrior (‘Noble Macbeth hath won’ (Act 1.2)) Macbeth’s need to retain that status inevitably shifts the initial position of his moral compass. Shakespeare plays on this constant desire to prove manhood; this is seen in the command, ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man.’ (Act 1.7) Shakespeare challenges the nature of manhood, exploring the idea of what manhood truly is – maintenance of honour or the underlying integrity and dignity? Lady Macbeth swerves Macbeth onto this road of needing to live up to his wife’s expectations, effectively coercing him to …show more content…
Shakespeare portrays Macbeth brimming with, ‘the milk of human kindness,’ (Act 1.5) employing the metaphorical phrase to enforce the idea of a subversion of gender roles, since woman are meant to be maternal and able to produce ‘milk’ for their children. However, Lady Macbeth summons the evil spirits, ‘Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall,’ replacing her ability to nurture children with the strength and capability for evil. The fact that Lady Macbeth does not desire a child is challenging for any audience but it was particularly difficult for children to have lengthy lives. Diseases such as dysentery, scarlet fever, influenza and pneumonia killed 30% of England’s children before the age of 15, at this time mothers had 7-8 live births over the course of 15 years. To a Jacobean audience the exclamatory imagery in, ‘Plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out!’ would have had perhaps greater resonance considering the extreme infant mortality rates, since the phrase ‘boneless gums’ relates to a common disease known as gingivitis, which many children suffered from. The lexises ‘plucked’ and ‘dashed’ show the absence of her maternal instincts. Although when Lady Macbeth reveals that she has, ‘Given suck, and knows how tender tis’ to love the babe,’ these words indicate the brutal loss of an infant and could possibly be a reason of her villainous
She rebelliously forms an independent mentality, wielding her femininity like a sword, striking with her cunning expertise. The Scottish Protestant leader John Knox said in ‘The First Blast of the Trumpet’ (1558) that, ‘Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man,’ and this was widely believed in Elizabethan and Jacobean society. Macbeth refuses to even consider murdering Duncan, however his ‘partner in greatness’ uses Macbeth’s need to maintain his image of a ‘real man’, against him. Here, Shakespeare redefines both gender roles by explaining the nature of femininity and masculinity. Since her husband is an acclaimed warrior (‘Noble Macbeth hath won’ (Act 1.2)) Macbeth’s need to retain that status inevitably shifts the initial position of his moral compass. Shakespeare plays on this constant desire to prove manhood; this is seen in the command, ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man.’ (Act 1.7) Shakespeare challenges the nature of manhood, exploring the idea of what manhood truly is – maintenance of honour or the underlying integrity and dignity? Lady Macbeth swerves Macbeth onto this road of needing to live up to his wife’s expectations, effectively coercing him to …show more content…
Shakespeare portrays Macbeth brimming with, ‘the milk of human kindness,’ (Act 1.5) employing the metaphorical phrase to enforce the idea of a subversion of gender roles, since woman are meant to be maternal and able to produce ‘milk’ for their children. However, Lady Macbeth summons the evil spirits, ‘Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall,’ replacing her ability to nurture children with the strength and capability for evil. The fact that Lady Macbeth does not desire a child is challenging for any audience but it was particularly difficult for children to have lengthy lives. Diseases such as dysentery, scarlet fever, influenza and pneumonia killed 30% of England’s children before the age of 15, at this time mothers had 7-8 live births over the course of 15 years. To a Jacobean audience the exclamatory imagery in, ‘Plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out!’ would have had perhaps greater resonance considering the extreme infant mortality rates, since the phrase ‘boneless gums’ relates to a common disease known as gingivitis, which many children suffered from. The lexises ‘plucked’ and ‘dashed’ show the absence of her maternal instincts. Although when Lady Macbeth reveals that she has, ‘Given suck, and knows how tender tis’ to love the babe,’ these words indicate the brutal loss of an infant and could possibly be a reason of her villainous