Portrayal Of Women In 'Of Mice And Men And Macbeth'

2384 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Shakespeare treatment of women essay

The essay will explore two authors and how each of them portray women. The texts that I am going to explore are “Of mice and men “and “Macbeth “. Macbeth’ was a play written in the 1500s when men were seen to be highly superior over women- especially when they are soldiers returning from battle. The Elizabethans would have regarded me to be brave, ambitious and more aggressive than women. Similarly, during the 1930s when of mice and men was written, men were regarded as more important than the women. I am going to explore how each other portrays women within their writing.

In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare women are presented as unfeminine which means not woman like. Lady Macbeth is probably one of the most evil and terrifying women in English literature. When Macbeth reveals what the witches have said to him, Lady Macbeth becomes determined to kill the king …show more content…

They were never able to do anything or go anywhere without their permission from their fathers or their husbands. When Macbeth arrives home she begins to act evil by telling him what to do and kill the king this gives the audience an idea of how women do behave, but are presented in a different way by society.

When Lady Macbeth is plotting to kill King Duncan she says things like “look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it” this is sneaky and manipulative for Lady Macbeth because it means look nice and friendly on the outside but be the backstabbing snake. And after the murder of King Duncan lady Macbeth begins to feel guilty and acts evil, calling upon the “sprits” to stop the passage of guilt flowing through her blood.

When the witches were introduced to the play they acted like demons by telling the future of Macbeth and looked like they were withering away, this it to show women were meant to be well presented for men and not look like these

Show More
Related

  • Macbeth Sexism Essay

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have always been the backbone of human civilization, whether it be in ancient times or even in the modern era. However, they are oppressed and not given the same fundamental, human rights as men, like access to education, leaving this discrimination and sexism to span over prolonged periods of time. Specifically, sexism is seen during the Elizabethan Era of history when William Shakespeare writes his prominent dramatic piece, Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, the prevalent theme of sexism is depicted in the play when Lady Macbeth, a character of strength and ambition, is shown as manipulative and inevitably weak when Shakespeare portrays her eventual downfall and suicide. Throughout the world today, the many different forms of sexism

    Read More

  • Femininity In Macbeth

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth from the tragic play by William Shakespeare. Macbeth is estimated to have been played for the first time in 1606. Lady Macbeth is one of the few and only woman we hear from in the play, except for the recurring weird sisters and a few comments from Lady Macduff. Being the female who draws the most attention to herself, Lady Macbeth would not only be a fascinating role to play, but she is an interesting character to analyse as well. Considering the typical stereotype of a woman and how she should portray femininity, Lady Macbeth would not be the most feminine of her kind. In the time period of Macbeth, a woman was the weaker sex, physically and emotionally, and it would be their significant other or father

    Read More

  • Macbeth Literary Analysis

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Macbeth

    1759 Words  | 4 Pages

    After Macbeth discovers the Witches’ prophecy, he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, about it. She reacts differently than one would expect a woman to do. 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.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Macbeth

    1456 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although written long ago, Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth still has themes relevant for contemporary society.  Murderous ambition, political intrigue, crafty social alliances, the disintegration of marriage – these could be headlines from any daily news program.  It comes as no surprise, then, that we also find a significant number of moments in the play where gender seems to be an issue. More specifically, we might say that Shakespeare's dramatic investigation into proper uses of power consists, in part, of a rigorous critique of the disparities between the respective roles assigned to men and women. Shakespeare seems especially interested in the moral and ethical implications of such discrepancies. In the interest of space and time, I will focus here on only a few brief moments from act one. However, I encourage you to note the further development of these points as the drama unfolds in subsequent scenes.

    Read More

  • Macbeth And Of Mice And Men Analysis

    2061 Words  | 5 Pages

    Macbeth was a play written by William Shakespeare in 1605. It revolved around Macbeth, a war hero, and his wife: Lady Macbeth (LM). In the play, Macbeth encounters three witches who give him a prophecy that he will be the king. When Lady Macbeth hears of this she demands that Macbeth kills the king - an instruction that he faithfully follows. From this, we can discuss how Shakespeare presented women in his play Macbeth. One idea is that he portrayed them as having more power than we would expect.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles- Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the old Shakespeare play Macbeth, women wear the pants, while the men wear the dresses, this is the theme throughout the play. It focuses on the marriage of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth takes the lead role, while she convinces her husband to kill Duncan. Shakespeare play concerning gender roles, shows the untraditional marriage in Scotland; what one sees is not what one gets. It also show how one starts is not how they end. The story of Macbeth shows power and betrayal. It shows power because it shows how one can take charge and get it done. It shows betrayal because he kill Duncan just to get the crown.

    Read More

  • Challenged Gender Roles in Shakespeare´s Macbeth

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Elizabethan era was a time that had very strict expectations of what it means to be a man or a woman. However, these expectations are not followed by Macbeth. In Macbeth, Shakespeare investigates and challenges the common gender roles of the time. Through defying the natural gender roles, he shows how people can accomplish their goals. He challenges the stereotypical Elizabethan woman through Lady Macbeth and the Werd Sisters and he investigates how the stereotypes for men are used for manipulation.

    Read More

  • The Views of Women in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare, one of the most famous play writers in history, wrote Macbeth in 1606. Many women were not allowed to perform in plays during that time period; however, Shakespeare did have very few females act out roles in his play (Shakespeare: Sample). Shakespeare viewed his women as strong-willed individuals (“Macbeth.” 227 ) when in reality they were often gone unrecognized (Women in Anglo). The character, Lady Macbeth, was a frightening, ambitious woman. Lady Macbeth often wished to “unsex herself” to carry out the killing of King Duncan on her own as her husband showed no manly characteristics to do it. Women during the Anglo-Saxon time period however, were way different then the way Shakespeare viewed his women during his time period.

    Read More

  • Gender In Macbeth Essay

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity suggests that there is a distinction between “sex, as a biological facticity, and gender, as the cultural interpretation or signification of that facticity” (Butler, 522). Performing certain actions that society associates with a specific gender marks you as that gender. In this way, gender is socially constructed. Alfar defines the societal expectation of women as the “constant and unquestioning feminine compliance with the desires of the masculine” (114). Considering Macbeth from a modern perspective and taking this distinction into account, it is necessary to determine if the play is concerned with sex or with gender. Before the action of the play even begins, the audience is warned that “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.11). The first scene of the play casts the world of Macbeth as a land where everything is opposite or disordered. This line at the very start of the play cautions audiences to not take the play at face value because things are not always as they appear to be. Because of this, “all the binaries become complicated, divisions blurred. Thus the binary nature of gender identities, male/female, is eliminated” (Reaves 14). In the world of Macbeth, the typical gender constructions are manipulated and atypical. If the play does not deal with sex, the qualities of Lady Macbeth cannot be applied to all women but rather, representative of society’s construction of gender, “the patriarch, and the limited, restrictive roles of women” (Reaves 11). Within this reading of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s examination and questioning of gender construction allows modern day readers to recognize the enduring relevance of

    Read More

  • To what extent is Lady Macbeth responsible for the murder of King Duncan and the downfall of Macbeth?

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history women have fought for the same rights of men. In the time of William Shakespeare they were seen in society as weak and vulnerable. They were seen to be good, caring and not as powerful as men. Men were the superior and ruled the land. Shakespeare has taken the stereotypical image of the women of the time and turned it on its head in ‘Macbeth’. Lady Macbeth is shown as a very powerful, strong woman. She has an evil about her that Shakespeare has used to make ‘Macbeth’ a supernatural play. Women were seen to be good and not as powerful as men, in ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth is the dominate character and commands and persuades Macbeth to commit the murders and crimes that he does.

    Read More

  • Gender And Power In Macbeth Essay

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender is evidently out of its traditional order within the play, and thus the three chosen exemplar characters to showcase this are Lady Macbeth, the Witches, and Macbeth. In saying this, Lady Macbeth is a clear example of how the traditional characteristics of a woman are non-existent as they are taken over by masculinity and strength. The witches challenge their womanhood due to the power they hold and attributes they have, all while Macbeth challenges his gender as he shows femininity through weakness and fretfulness.

    Read More

  • Sexist Towards Women In Othello

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare has written some of the most outstanding pieces of literature throughout history that have lasted through out the ages. But, critics often criticize Shakespeare as being sexist towards women in his work. He often portrays them as weak minded, evil, or as sexual objects. Ophelia, Queen Gertrude, Lady Macbeth, and Juliet Capulet are just a few female heroines that are accused of being feeble or heinous. Shakespeare's Othello represents Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca as weak characters that do not become triumphant by the end of the play.

    Read More

  • The Power of a Woman in MacBeth by Shakespeare

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play, Macbeth, the power of a woman is a strong force to be reckoned with. Many times in the play, the female characters have proven their equality with any man. From the witches to Lady Macbeth, these characters show their power either in words or in actions. The women, in the play Macbeth, contradict the roles set by society in 1606. Women who over stepped their boundaries were considered a threat to the people and were punished severely. It was shocking to the public to see such masculine female characters in Macbeth.

    Read More

  • Feminine Evil in William Shakespeare's Macbeth and King Lear

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare's plays King Lear and Macbeth, evil is represented in both women and men. It is significant to the plots of both plays and to their impact through theme and character that evil actions are performed by women. The construction of evil female characters also gives insight into Shakespeare's view of women and their roles in society.

    Read More

More about Portrayal Of Women In 'Of Mice And Men And Macbeth'

Open Document