Lady Macbeth takes the role of the dominant partner in the beginning of the play, by acting as the real power behind the throne. For example, it is easily recognized that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are opposite in many ways (Scott 236). He is weak, indecisive, and takes on the traditional female role of the marriage; she is strong, decisive, and takes on the traditional male role. One place in the play where Macbeth’s character is shown is Act I, Scene 5, Lines 15-17. She says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promis’d : yet do I fear thy nature / Is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.” This is just after Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth. It is also important to notice that when Macbeth’s first thoughts of killing Duncan appear, he is scared. After he commits the murder, Macbeth says, “To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself ” ( 2. 2. 72 ). Knowing that he has committed such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and deal with his guilt.
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.
Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth is well known to be a strong, independent character. She proved her strength multiple times throughout the play. But, since she is a woman, her character has a certain weakness which is recognized by the other characters in the play, and especially herself. Given this limitation, many people perceive her to be simply a women with a lot of potential that never truly is able to flourish. On the contrary, she is a key part in the play. Without her, many of the events of the story wouldn’t have taken place. Given her gender, many people won’t be able to realize how large of an influence Lady Macbeth had over Macbeth and the other characters. Lady Macbeth was the “man” in her relationship, showing the strength
Later in this monologue, she adds she wants her breast milk to be poison. She wants to not have the quality of being able to birth a child because she believes it will interfere with her evil plans. She recognizes being a woman makes people assume you’re compassionate, sweet, and kind. She wants to feel like a man because people associate toughness with men. She says Macbeth is “ It is too full o' the milk of human kindness” (Macbeth 1.5.17) and implies that he isn’t masculine enough, rather too feminine, to hold the position of power she wants. Yes, Macbeth proves his manhood to her by killing Duncan, but later on it is just Macbeth killing people, rising to power while Lady Macbeth is felling so guilty for the murder plot, she is literally going crazy. Her at first masculine role becomes back at what it should be; she is now feminine. I say she is feminine now because her man makes all of the decisions
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
The play “Macbeth” is one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most popular tragedies written alongside with “Othello” and “Hamlet”. Shakespeare’s plays typically are centered on the actions of males with little female representation, however in “Macbeth” Lady Macbeth (wife of the protagonist, Macbeth) is present in the play above average than most female characters. In the article, “Lady Macbeth: A Psychological Sketch,” written by Robert Munro he reports his conclusions of Lady Macbeth by analyzing her psychologically through understanding how she deals with her mental state compared to Macbeth’s methods on how he attempts to overcome his. In Munro’s article he explains “His [Macbeth] ambition was already hers,” (31) how similar Lady Macbeth and
The play “Macbeth” is one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most popular tragedies written alongside with “Othello” and “Hamlet”. Shakespeare’s plays typically are centered on the actions of males with little female representation, however in “Macbeth” Lady Macbeth (wife of the protagonist, Macbeth) is present in the play above average than most female characters. In the article, “Lady Macbeth: A Psychological Sketch,” written by Robert Munro he reports his conclusions of Lady Macbeth by analyzing her psychologically through understanding how she deals with her mental state compared to Macbeth’s methods on how he attempts to overcome his. In Munro’s article he explains “His [Macbeth] ambition was already hers,” (31) how similar Lady Macbeth and
At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is introduced as a dominant, controlling, heartless wife with an obsessive ambition to achieve kingship for her husband. After she learns of her husband's plan to murder Duncan, she realizes that her husband is not man enough to commit the murder. She believes he "...is too full o' th' milk of human kindness..."(I.v.15), and he would be great except he is "...not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it..."(I.v.17-18). Lady Macbeth is clearly presented as the dominant person in the relationship; which, is a reversal of the stereotypical roles of the time. She is presented as one of the strongest characters featuring in the beginning of play.
Lady Macbeth: Unsexed and Uncovered
Lady Macbeth progresses throughout the play from a seemingly savage and heartless creature to a very delicate and fragile woman. In the beginning of the play, she is very ambitious and hungry for power. She pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophecy. In Act I, Scene 6, she asks the gods to make her emotionally strong like a man in order to help her husband go through with the murder plot. She says, “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!”
... and generous principle and every feminine feeling. In the pursuit of her object, she is cruel, treacherous and daring” (Jameson 362). Jameson’s interpretation and explanation of Lady Macbeth is similar to my ideology of Lady Macbeth. Our views of how she placed the role of a kind, genuine wife on her husband initially as a means of achieving the power desired. However, it is never addressed how wicked her crime of instigating the murder of Duncan. It is simply forgotten, or even forgiven through the course of the play. This leads me to believe that this is why people fail to recognize her true power. Lady Macbeth is the king in her marriage and Macbeth is simply a pawn under her control. It appears to me, that Shakespeare used Macbeth to display the destruction caused by ambition and power, while simultaneously using Lady Macbeth to portray true power at its peak.