In the Play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth and is one of the play’s most celebrated characters. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as stronger, more cruel, and more ambitious person than Macbeth, especially when she questions his manhood. When she questions his manhood, Macbeth feels that he needed to prove he is a man and that his masculinity should not be questioned. In a way this is her way of killing Duncan because she feels that she can manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan and she does not want to be seen as killing him because women are not portrayed as a killing type. Lady Macbeth’s role in the play is to be the character that portrays some of the themes and social images of that time about how a woman should or shouldn’t be. By creating a character like Lady Macbeth, the reader’s views of masculinity and femininity are challenged. While Lady Macbeth seemed more ambitious, and stronger than Macbeth, this contradicts the idea that Men are more ambitious and stronger than women and many characters believe that women should be the gentle personas. It can be implied, without knowing the gender of the characters in the story, that Lady Macbeth would be a man in the play because she has a masculine humanity that lives in a woman’s body. Even though she is as ambitious as her husband, she is still a woman and at that time, people thought that men could only be ambitious and could use violence. When Macbeth says, “Bring forth men Children only/ for thy undaunted mettle should compose/ nothing but males”(Macbeth 1.7.83-85). This shows that Lady Macbeth is not looked as a violent and ambitious person and that their only manliness should be used toward giving birth to Macbeth’s child. Lady Mac... ... middle of paper ... ...man’s hopes died and they were saddened by her death. It was their cry within women because they had lost hope that they could be strong and ambitious. Throughout the Macbeth, Lady Macbeth portrays both masculinity and femininity. She portrays her ambition and her power when he manipulates Macbeth to try and kill Duncan, A task that she wanted to do but could not do because of the social views of women. Showed her weakness by dying because of her guilt over the death of Duncan, even though she did not physically kill him. Even though she showed her masculinity, she showed that in the end, she is a woman and has feminine traits. Her purpose in the play is to be the character that portrays some of the themes and social images about how a woman should act. By creating a character like Lady Macbeth, the reader’s views of masculinity and femininity are challenged.
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.
One permeating aspect of Shakespeare’s depiction of masculinity is its dominance over femininity. Lady Macbeth is a vital contributor to this mindset throughout the plot. As a means of obtaining power, Lady Macbeth sees her femininity as an obstacle and obtaining masculine attributes as a step toward the throne. We see this when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and full me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (33). In this quote she is literally asking to replace her feminine attributes with masculine ones, which she perceives as cruelty and aggression. She continues to emphasize this ideal when she states “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall” (33). This line is a blatant reference ...
As said by the author Jim Butcher, “Some of the cruelest tyrants in history were motivated by noble ideals, or made choices that they would call 'hard but necessary steps' for the good of their nation” Under the impression that he was supposed to be king, Macbeth does everything he can to hold that title. Although women as a whole do not have a lot of stage time in Macbeth, some- the witches and Lady Macbeth, in particular- play large roles in the plot. These women are the source of Macbeth’s fate and actions, and easily convince him to do their bidding.
Macbeth is a very gothic, persistent tale of a great general in the Scottish army who causes his own downfall by listening to the dark prophecies of the three witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s self-consciousness fails to play an important part in the murder of multiple kinsmen causing the death of his wife and his mental health. Macbeth is not necessarily a horrible leader; the problem with him is that his ambitions exceed his expectancies. Macbeth’s character has constantly evolved from the point he was introduced into the play. Initially he seems as an extremely humble person, but as he learns more about the prophecies, his hindsight fails to overlook the complications of his ambitions. Macbeth’s faith in the apparitions and the witches ultimately cause Macbeth’s downfall and the unnecessary death of his beloved kinsmen such as King Duncan and Banquo.
Typical males initiate power and demonstrate a solid exterior, while females are ordinarily associated with internal feelings. The thought of manhood in Macbeth is linked to strength, power, physical bravery, and power of will. Characters all throughout the play manipulate the ideal of masculinity to serve their own desires and benefits to utilize the idea of manhood to provoke one another into battle. Macbeth initiates supremacy and power to prove his manliness. Meanwhile Lady Macbeth instead uses manipulation to do her bidding, to get what she
Lady Macbeth could have chosen to question the prophecies; however, she accepted them without hesitation and encouraged her husband to do the same. A motif, which encompasses the stereotypes of gender roles, winds its way through the play, following Macbeth like a shadow. The daunting thought that others will not consider him a man, an idea initially presented by his wife, spurs a seemingly endless killing spree. This cause and effect scenario suggests that one of the reasons Macbeth moved forward with the plan to kill Duncan, was likely to show his wife and others that he was manly.
“When you first do it, then you were a man, And to be more than what you were, you would, be so much more the man” (I. VII, 54-56). After struggling with the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth is reprimanded by Lady Macbeth for his lack of courage. She informs him that killing the king will make him a man, insinuating that he isn’t a man if he doesn’t go through with the murder. This develops Lady Macbeth as a merciless, nasty, and selfish woman. She will say, or do anything to get what she desires, even if it means harming others.
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
She is a woman, but desires to be cruel and monstrous like a man. In consideration of murdering King Duncan herself, she requests that the spirits “unsex [her there] / And fill her...Of direst cruelty 1.5.44-46”. This matches Shakespeare’s implication of masculinity, as Lady Macbeth feels that if she were a man, she would more easily be able to commit brutal acts without any feeling of remorse. It indicates that men are stereotyped by Shakespeare to be callous and ruthless while women are perceived as rather fair and harmless. Additionally, Lady Macbeth is a large cause of the brutal behaviours that Macbeth demonstrates throughout the play. She convinces Macbeth that if he slaughters Duncan, he will “Be so much more the man 1.7.56”. This continues emphasize that in order to be discerned as a man, one must be violent and cruel. Shakespeare’s ideas regarding theme of manhood are carried out uniquely to a massive extent, as ideas of masculinity are forced upon Macbeth primarily by Lady Macbeth, who is a
In the sexist historical period in which the play Macbeth is set, women were not seen as equals and could be accused of witchcraft without reason. There were many male and female stereotypes that were popular perceptions of what each gender should be, creating gender roles. In the play, Lady Macbeth takes on many stereotypically masculine characteristics and her dominant power has led to interpretation that she was responsible for the horrible events of Macbeth. She acted as more of a real women than society would’ve even known at that time, by being brave and helping her husband while having goals of her own. However, Lady Macbeth’s strong actions, despite their bold defiance of gender roles, did not lead to the tragedies of the play, but
In the play "Macbeth," Shakespeare demonstrates that the thirst for power is strong enough to taint the mind of a person once so honorable. He shows the contrast of what it is to be a real man and a man of cowardice. There is also a battle between gender, a woman who acts and thinks like a man? This is a twist in the common gender role, where it is seen constantly, Lady Macbeth capturing of her husband's scepter and taking the lead and being the strong suit in their path for a
In Act 1 Scene 7 of “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth uses persuasive language to bring Macbeth from a man full of trepidation, to a hardened killer, ready to commit regicide. She does this in a variety of ways. The play was extremely controversial at the time; this was because it effectively reversed the gender roles of society. These roles were imprinted into the very fabric of medieval community; women were seen as inferior to males, and were brutally oppressed by the largely patriarchal society. As a result, shakespearean audiences would be shocked by the role reversal portrayed in Macbeth.
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. ...
...speare makes us question the standard image projected by society of males and females. The idea of gender ideology brings up a lot of controversy during this play. He brings in the themes, masculinity and femininity, to describe what defines gender roles. He also shows how each gender is capable of possessing both of these features, qualities, and behaviors, as shown through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both defy the accepted gender roles, and as a consequence, they both tragically died. Once Macbeth finally attained his masculinity, he overcompensated his manliness, which led to his death. Similarly, Lady Macbeth realized her unnatural behavior as a woman, and was devoured by her guiltiness, which led to her insanity. Shakespeare shows that gender roles should represent their own gender character traits because crossing the line can be fatal.