Macbeth And A Dollhouse Analysis

On the surface it would seem that the only thing Macbeth and A Dollhouse have in common would be that they are both plays, but critics would have to disagree and say they have similar themes as well. Both plays exhibit females who lust for power, Lady Macbeth and Nora. The motif of crime and punishment in both works impacts the theme that the lust for power can lead to destruction and instability. In Macbeth, Shakespeare illustrates Lady Macbeth’s lust for power to become queen in her soliloquy when she first learns of the witch’s prophecy. Lady Macbeth says, “The raven himself is hoarse/ That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan/Under my battlements. Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown

In Macbeth, madness and insanity is the punishment for both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Kendall states that “Macbeth clings to his authority and rejects his own mortality to the last” (192). Macbeth becomes paranoid concerning his reign and his secret. He sees the ghost of Banquo, his friend who has just sentenced to death, causing Macbeth to almost reveal his secret to everyone. Macbeth’s paranoia is also a punishment to his crime, causing him to be unsteady mentally, thus leading him to his death when MacDuff kills him. Lady Macbeth as well experiences her own kind of punishment. Lady Macbeth is found sleepwalking and saying, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why,/ then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and/afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our /power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to /have had so much blood in him” (V.i.25-38). Lady Macbeth wishes for the blood of Duncan would come off of her hands. Of course there is no blood, but metaphorically the death is her doing thus she has his blood on her hands. Lady Macbeth is consumed with guilt causing her to become insane making the people nervous. Both Macbeth’s final punishment, though, is their death by the hand of another, like Duncan’s death. Nora however has a far less harsh punishment, though in the end she still has some karma thrown her way. When Krogstad threatens Nora that he will tell her secret, she gets him fired, but that only adds fuel to the already burning flame. When Nora learns of Krogstad’s letter of confession to Helmer she becomes unstable and paranoid. Tornqvist says, “Having failed in all her attempts, Nora in the final act realizes that her forgery will be known” (13). She’s filled with worry that Helmer will learn the truth from someone else instead of her, thus revoking her power over him. She decides she must