Rebellious Women Before the women’s movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, “compared with men, women were seen as irrational, emotional, unintelligent, and morally immature”(Meyers) This inspired women, and they soon took action. Parts of these actions are told of in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where women rebel by using their sexuality, being violent, and going against social norms. In both The Handmaid’s Tale and Macbeth, women rebel by using their sexuality. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred, when walking past the two young guards, shakes her hips at them to “...enjoy the power;”(Atwood 28) she gets from this “...defiance of rule…” (26). By doing this, Offred shows that, even though the government has taken nearly everything from her, she still has power. However small or temporary, this gives her hope. And hope is what keeps her alive. The woman that rebels with her sexuality in Macbeth is Lady Macbeth. When Macbeth questions his ability and reason to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth blackmails her husband with her love. This works wonderfully as Macbeth truly …show more content…
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Moira rebels against the Aunts by using a toilet pipe as a weapon to try and escape the center. Later in the novel Offred starts thinking violently because she has had enough of the government trying to control her. She thinks repeatedly of hanging herself, which is in itself an act of rebellion as the government is in dire need of fertile handmaids. In Macbeth, the witches act violently because they want to and because they just can. When a sailor’s wife refuses to give a witch chestnuts, the witch puts a curse on the sailor. She plans to “…drain him dry as hay…” (Shakespeare I.iii.18), and to let him “… live a man forbid.” (Shakespeare I.iii.21). Moira, Offred and the witches all provide an example to women as to how to rebel usingdick violent thoughts, which sometimes turn into
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
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.
Margaret Atwood's renowned science fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale, was written in 1986 during the rise of the opposition to the feminist movement. Atwood, a Native American, was a vigorous supporter of this movement. The battle that existed between both sides of the women's rights issue inspired her to write this work. Because it was not clear just what the end result of the feminist movement would be, the author begins at the outset to prod her reader to consider where the story will end. Her purpose in writing this serious satire is to warn women of what the female gender stands to lose if the feminist movement were to fail. Atwood envisions a society of extreme changes in governmental, social, and mental oppression to make her point.
As the saying goes, 'history repeats itself.' If one of the goals of Margaret Atwood was to prove this particular point, she certainly succeeded in her novel A Handmaid's Tale. In her Note to the Reader, she writes, " The thing to remember is that there is nothing new about the society depicted in The Handmaiden's Tale except the time and place. All of the things I have written about ...have been done before, more than once..." (316). Atwood seems to choose only the most threatening, frightening, and atrocious events in history to parallel her book by--specifically the enslavement of African Americans in the United States. She traces the development of this institution, but from the perspective of a different group of oppressed people: women.
For example, Lady Macbeth constantly breaks convention with her masculine assertions; however, because of these choices, she is ultimately punished. In her famous “unsex me speech” she calls upon “spirits that tend on mortal thoughts [to] unsex [her] here” by displacing her female characteristics with male traits (I.V.39-40). She does this because she feels that women do not have the natural capacity to handle high-risk situations. Lady Macbeth utilizes her acquired masculinity by, in fact, surpassing the manliness of her husband. By mocking Macbeth for being “infirm of purpose” and taking the daggers (to frame the guards for the murder of Duncan), she ...
Firstly, the four women subvert expectations of femininity by not submitting to male authority. In the play, Lady Macbeth questions things instead of accepting it. “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness,” this is Lady Macbeth accusing her own husband of being too kind instead of being the fearless warrior he is supposed to be. It is almost as if she is accusing him of being too feminine. This subverts Jacobean expectations of femininity because she is questioning him, as if she has some kind of power or authority to do so. She gets this imaginary power from the fact that she is married to Macbeth – the thane of Cawdor. Furthermore she uses this authority because she wishes to be able to experience real power; the power only a man could have. This is something women would not have done in the Jacobean era. In this era women would have stayed at home and looked after the house rather than attempting ...
We see how a vigorous Lady Macbeth; initially in association with the witches’ predictions, at-tempts to mirror their disturbance of gender in psychological terms by desiring to "unsex" herself in order to carry out such a powerful action [murder], otherwise, being impossible for a woman to carry out (no offence or sexism is intended when I state this).
In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.
As the concept of traditional female is significant in Elizabethan society, Lady Macbeth is rather contradictory as she is ambitious and takes control to persuade Macbeth. To begin, when Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth’s letter with the witches appearance and the prophesies, she realizes that her husband is weak-willed and plans to persuade him to remove any obstacles. Worth mentioning is that not only she takes control of the situation but she spurs Macbeth into murdering Duncan by saying “…When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.49). She acts out of her role as she insults his manliness and declares that she would have “dash’d the brains out” (1.7.58) her child while it was feeding at her breast. This reveals her unwomanly characteristics as Lady Macbeth do not care for her children. At the same time, Lady Macbeth overrides the source of evil as she believes in witchcraft and calls for evil spirits for help. She state...
The Handmaid's Tale This is a futuristic novel that takes place in the northern part of the USA sometime in the beginning of the twenty-first century, in the oppressive and totalitarian Republic of Gilead. The regime demands high moral retribution and a virtuous lifestyle. The Bible is the guiding principle. As a result of the sexual freedom, free abortion and high increase of venereal diseases at the end of the twentieth century, many women, (and men also, but that is forbidden to say), are sterile. The women who are still fertile are recruited as Handmaids, and their only mission in life is to give birth to the offspring of their Commander, whose wife is infertile.
Lady Macbeth and her husbands downward spiral towards dark destruction is one the most famous of all time. We watch with pleasure as their horrible actions lead to their ultimate destruction. Lady Macbeth makes the choice to, as one source put it, lose her womanly virtues and become what she thinks is a man. It is this choice that leads to her unknowingly helping the witches in their desire to destroy Macbeth and ultimately her as well. She changes from a woman sure of these decisions to woman riddled with fear, corrupted in all possible manner – mind body and soul. Her ambition and power lead to her destruction. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
In certain situations, women are the downfall of men. Macbeth is a prime example on how women influence men. We are going to probe into the hidden lives of Lord and Lady Macbeth, and show how without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have lived and prospered.
The Handmaid's Dystopia The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian tale about a world where unrealistic things take place. The events in the novel could never actually take place in our reality." This is what most people think and assume, but they"re wrong. Look at the world today and in the recent past, and there are not only many situations that have ALMOST become a Gilead, but places that have been and ARE Gileadean societies. We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy! Even today, there are places in the world where there is a startling similarity to this fictitious dystopia.
To begin with, Shakespeare exemplifies Lady Macbeth as a calculating lady throughout the play; by being evil, cunning, and masculine. For instance, immediately after reading of the witches’ prophecy, the idea of King Duncan’s murder does not disturb her. Alternatively, she starts scheming the possible assassination of King Duncan, executed by her husband. She imagines “the future in the instant” (1.5 56)--Lady Macbeth does not care how she realizes her ambition; she cleverly persuades Macbeth to commit the murder. While harboring murderous thoughts, Lady Macbeth exhibits false courtesy to Duncan just to secure his trust with the Macbeths. Therefore, even when her husband wavers, Lady Macbeth remains determined with her plans and manipulates her husband by using emotional blackmail. Additionally, she does not panic during the regicide; this demonstrates that she is in control over the situation. Lady Macbeth then asks Macbeth to “go carry [The daggers] and smear/ The sleepy grooms with blood” (2.2 52-3). When he refuses, she shows no hesitation and takes (the) daggers herself. Lastly, Lady Macbeth asks to “unsex me” (1.5 39). Being a woman means that she is at risk...
Macbeth is a famous play written by Shakespeare. This play like most stories had women in it, and whether Shakespeare intended to or not he showed his own views on women. The women in this play are the witches and the two wives. Witches aside the two wives are quite unique before settling in to the stereotype of playing second fiddle to a male character. “They wanted, it seemed, to be supporting actresses in their own stories”. (Kelsey McKinney) These women take the time to make it clear how awful they are before fading out. Both the wives and the witches do this masterfully before succumbing to the stereotype of fading out to a male character. In Macbeth the three main feminine themes are clearly that women should not be trusted, have little faith in others, and make foolish decisions.