The Role Of Women In Shakespeare's Macbeth

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The roles of women in Shakespeare’s plays are very unique and important. Women act independently from men and have their own feelings and thoughts. They can impact the story through the use of their words and also their actions. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character of Lady Macbeth is shown to be ambitions but also full of guilt, which eventually leads to her downfall. The first time that Lady Macbeth displayed her ambitions was in act one scene five. This was the scene when Lady Macbeth reads the letter from Macbeth stating his encounter with the Weird Sisters and what they said about his future. After reading about the Weird Sisters saying that Macbeth was going to be king, Lady Macbeth started to get excited and the desire for Macbeth …show more content…

One night, while Lady Macbeth was sleepwalking, she started making regretful remarks about the deaths that have occurred because she knows that she was the one that caused them. This was when her guilty conscience started kicking in and due to this, she started to feel bad for everything she has done. “The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?—What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that. You mar all with this starting (5.1.44-47). This quote shows that Lady Macbeth was starting to feel guilty for her actions because she asks when her hands will ever be cleaned, which signifies that she still can’t forget about all the people that she has killed. While she was saying this, she kept rubbing her hands together as if she was trying to clean them and wash away the guilt that was overwhelming her. Another example in this section that showed her guilt was when Lady Macbeth started to hallucinate and see blood on her hands. “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!” (5.1.53-55). This quote describes how Lady Macbeth starts to see blood on her hands and completely loses her mind. Due to this hallucination, it is clear that her guilt is becoming out of control and how she also has a ton of remorse for all the deaths that have

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