Lady Macbeth as a Friend-Like Queen in William Shakespeare's Play
To answer this question I am going to study and analyse the text
thoroughly to determine whether I agree or disagree with Malcolm's
statement. I will do this by looking at both sides of the argument and
by concluding with my own opinion based on the evidence I will
present.
Another word for fiend is monster. A monster is generally considered
to be inhuman and Lady Macbeth does show inhuman qualities throughout
the play but towards the end of the play she changes.
When she first enters the play in act one scene five, where she reads
a letter from Macbeth, he refers to her as his- "Dearest partner of
greatness". For women in medieval, eleventh century Scotland this
would have been very uncharacteristic: a women's place would have been
in the home and generally they wouldn't have had political opinions or
ambitions and would not have been equal to men. Even when the play was
written in the eighteen hundreds, women were viewed as inferior to
men. The role of a woman is epitomised in Lady Macduff. She is soft,
domestic, child bearing and feminine. She doesn't have any political
opinions or ambitions, unlike Lady Macbeth. The comparison between the
two wives shows us how and why Lady Macbeth sacrifices her femininity
and why she did so. She doesn't just want her husband to become king
but she wants to become Queen. Shakespeare was quite sexist and had a
hatred for woman which shows in some of his plays, so maybe he is
saying that Lady Macduff is what a woman should be and Lady Macbeth is
not.
Lady Macbeth is very ruthless and "fiend-like" in the way she goes
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...o sympathise with her. The brilliant phrase "look like the
innocent flower, be the serpent under it" shows us her fiend-like
tendencies and slyness. In Roman Polanski's film of the play Macbeth,
he takes the text literally and has Lady Macbeth played by an innocent
flower (soft and beautiful), which is an interesting way to perceive
the play as most productions have a dark evil actress playing the
character of Lady Macbeth. Although towards the end of the play when
her possible schizophrenia emerges, we discover she is living two
lives, that she isn't completely ruthless and she does show some guilt
just in strange ways. However overall I do agree with Malcolm's
statement that Lady Macbeth is a "fiend-like Queen", in the way she
went about becoming Queen and in the way she ruled, even if it was
only for a brief period.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime.
The switch in roles exemplifies inverted gender and social roles during their era. After Macbeth discovers the Witches’ prophecy, he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth about it. She reacts differently than one would expect a woman to act. She begins to mock Macbeth and ridicule his masculinity. By the conveyance of her speech, Lady Macbeth emphasizes that she is in charge and that Macbeth needs to follow her in order to achieve anything, as she states, “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/To catch nearest way” (1.5.16-18). Shakespeare employs the rhetorical device of a metaphor to describe Lady Macbeth’s view on Macbeth’s personality. Her comparison between him and the milk of human kindness infers that Macbeth is kind and compassionate. Lady Macbeth believes due to Macbeth’s nature, he will not have the determination to go along with the plan and its consequence. The way in which Lady Macbeth speaks is ironic seeing as Lady Macbeth is a woman and she is calling Macbeth a coward and criticizing his role as a man. In cultural stereotypes, men were known to have control over the women by making all the decisions for the household without any different perspectives. Lady Macbeth seems to embody these male-like characteristics. On the other hand, Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as a feminine male
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as A Dead Butcher and His Fiend-like Queen in William Shakespeare's Macbeth
In act 1, scene 7, lady Macbeth shows strong commitment to the relationship by saying she would kill a child if she promised to. For example "dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn to you." By saying this. she's saying that she would keep any promise, no matter how twisted it is, and she's implying that Macbeth promised to kill the king, when he didn't. It almost seems like she's persuading him through guilt, and getting him to go through with their plans like that because she's so intent on reaching her goal of becoming queen. This links to earlier on in the play when she talks about how she will do anything to make sure her and Macbeth reach royalty, no matter what. Earlier on, she also talks about taking her breastmilk away from her, which
Initially, when her character is introduced, she displays her masculine traits with complete disregard for any form of femininity. She commands the heavens in these lines, ”Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty.”(1.5.30-33). In this, Lady Macbeth sheds any attachment she has to her natural embodiment as a woman, and asks the supernatural to help her in her quest to power. It is clearly shown that Lady Macbeth yearns to achieve ambitions that weren’t considered womanly in the time period that this play is set in. As a consequence, she pushes her husband to fulfill her horrendous dreams, because she knows that she will not be affected if Macbeth fails to execute his plans. If Macbeth gets caught, then she remains blameless, and if he doesn’t, she becomes a queen. Either way she doesn’t get hurt. Nonetheless, Lady Macbeth hides another aspiration, one which is evidenced from her humane actions. As a loyal companion to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth wants to ensure that her husband achieves his dream, to be king, at any cost, even if that means sacrificing her femininity and humanity. Generally speaking, this unique perspective on Lady Macbeth shows that her demeaning of Macbeth’s masculinity is actually a display of her true feminine traits; to always support her husband regardless of the price. Lady
...he manipulates her husband. This reveals that she controls and spurs Macbeth. At the same time, Lady Macbeth correlates with evil as she denies the womanly characteristics. Similarly, the witches are portrayed by women which contradict the stereotype as they are associated with evil spirits. Moreover, the witches are compared to Lady Macbeth when she steps out of expectation. At last, Lady Macduff does not face with any consequence as she does not associate herself with evil. She is portrayed as a foil since her character emphasizes Lady Macbeth and the witches’ unstereotypical characteristics with her traditional role as a wife and a mother. Therefore, Shakespeare utilizes the different types of unstereotypical women in the play Macbeth to emphasize that here will always be some conflicts between female and male however the fundamental roles will be reinforced.
The untraditional marriage between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth shows how a woman takes charge of her marriage, showing she is the woman of the house. She is manly and all powerful over her husband. Lady Macbeth proves to be the untraditional woman of Scotland, she differs from the role of a traditional woman because she is not feminine as a woman should be, in fact she wishes she was a man. She tells the spirits to, “ unsex me here”. ( Enotes… unsex me here). This pertains to the theme of gender roles because it demonstrates how Lady Macbeth wishes it was a man. She’s manlier than her husband, that show the untraditional woman. Lady Macbeth feels her husband is to nice, friendly, and full of milk “ worrying her is to full of the milk of human kindness to take Duncan’s throne” ( Gale. Par 3). She worries that Macbeth has cold feet. He’s afraid of the consequence that will follow the murder; She planed the murder herself, because she didn’t believe he could do with out her help. She worries he is to manly to snatch the crown. So Lady Macbeth is manly enough to plan the murder, but wants Macbeth to commit the murder. ...
Shakespeare’s piece, as an immeasurable ravine, would always be inaccessible for me to read due to the ancient English and the ancient background under which all the story had token place. I remember the first time of reading Macbeth was when I was in 8 grades. I was too young to appreciate the tragical theme; thus, my first impression of Macbeth was barely left, except knowing its short length. When I was watching the actual Shakespeare playing on the stage, my memory of my earlier reading suddenly was retrieved. However, in the end, Macbeth still left lots of questions for me to concern.
The relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth was described as “best marriage in Shakespeare” in the beginning of the play. Duncan has once described Macbeth’s love “sharp as his spur”, and Macbeth has also described Lady Macbeth’s love “dearest partner of greatness”. Similar to every marriage and couples have, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had their peaceful and amusing life as a husband and wife, too. However, Lady Macbeth was rather strange, mentally, and obsessive towards the position of the King. Lady Macbeth wanted the luxurious, and carefree life of being the King and Queen of the country, Scotland. This has always cause the relationship between the couples to be quite awkward and not suitable, but at the same time, we can see their trust in each other; to be able to tell their lust and greed
When Macbeth arrives at his castle Lady Macbeth tells him to wear a friendly face and leave the plotting up to her. However, when Macbeth decides against killing the king, Lady Macbeth is outraged. She appeals to his ambition and pride while at the same time mocking his masculinity until she persuades him to persevere in her plot to kill the king. She even says that she would kill her own child had she promised to do so. This is where I think it becomes apparent that Lady Macbeth has a higher sense of ambitions and far less scruples than the future king. Its as if Lady Macbeth is actually Macbeth’s darker, more sinister side. She is the one that encourages him to do such sinister deeds even after he has decided to oppose the notion. She seems quite proud of herself for initiating the deed and says that she would have committed the act herself had Duncan not resembled her father as he lay their sleeping.
Traditionally, men have been the superior partner in a relationship. Throughout time men have always been the one who is outspoken and dominant in marriages. Shakespeare tends to move away from these traditional gender roles and write woman who are strong and independent. In his play, Macbeth, Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth take on a more dominant, cruel and “manly” role in the marriage while Macbeth submits to his wife’s demands thus giving him a more “womanly” role. Both of these characters go through many role reversals between the two of them and subsequently their greed for power leads them to their downfall.
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and daunting female characters. As Macbeth’s wife, her role is very important in Macbeth’s rise and fall from royalty. In Shakespearean times, females were considered as feeble and unimportant beings whose only use was to give birth, and for their looks. They were not by any means equal to men, nor intelligent. Though in this play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the biggest impact in her husband’s life. In her role, she uses her status in Dunsinane to gain power, stay sane enough to support Macbeth, and fails while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth makes her the perfect villain for the play, mostly because of her capability to manipulate anyone that is around her.
In Macbeth, the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth shifts throughout the play in many ways. It increases the way we understand the characters throughout the play of Macbeth. It demonstrates the differences in opinions between a marriage and allows them to express themselves with verbal threats and the power they held amongst one another. Their relationship starts with love and affection based on how Macbeth starts of by calling her “my dearest love” (1.5.57) they also both had this strong connection with each other and shared the same type of ambition but one of the two always held the power in the relationship that they had. As the relationship begins to impact throughout the play there are threatening behaviours from different
To begin with, Shakespeare exemplifies Lady Macbeth as a calculating lady throughout the play; by being evil, cunning, and masculine. For instance, immediately after reading of the witches’ prophecy, the idea of King Duncan’s murder does not disturb her. Alternatively, she starts scheming the possible assassination of King Duncan, executed by her husband. She imagines “the future in the instant” (1.5 56)--Lady Macbeth does not care how she realizes her ambition; she cleverly persuades Macbeth to commit the murder. While harboring murderous thoughts, Lady Macbeth exhibits false courtesy to Duncan just to secure his trust with the Macbeths. Therefore, even when her husband wavers, Lady Macbeth remains determined with her plans and manipulates her husband by using emotional blackmail. Additionally, she does not panic during the regicide; this demonstrates that she is in control over the situation. Lady Macbeth then asks Macbeth to “go carry [The daggers] and smear/ The sleepy grooms with blood” (2.2 52-3). When he refuses, she shows no hesitation and takes (the) daggers herself. Lastly, Lady Macbeth asks to “unsex me” (1.5 39). Being a woman means that she is at risk...