Examples Of Femininity In Macbeth

Alice Wu

Albaker

World Literature P2

23 March 2023

The Mask of Femininity

Shakespeare’s Macbeth follows the story of Macbeth’s transition from a patriotic war hero to a king burdened with guilt and greed. After winning a battle for his kingdom and being recognized as a noble and courageous soldier, Macbeth meets three witches who predict he will become Thane of Cawdor and king. Upon realizing the witches may have been telling the truth after receiving the title of Thane of Cawdor, he becomes greedy and under Lady Macbeth’s persuasion, kills the king to be crowned. As his drive for power consumes him, he descends further and further into madness and his eventual demise. Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth to illustrate how women can

After she receives a letter from Macbeth about his encounter with the witches, she immediately thinks of killing Duncan for them to achieve their fate. To prepare herself for the murder, she tells the spirits to, “unsex [her] here,/And fill [her] from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty”(1.5.47-50). By asking for the spirits to “unsex” her, she wants them to take all the usual traits associated with the female sex away and to replace them with masculine traits of fortitude and violence. Lady Macbeth also associates being masculine with being cruel as she tells the spirits to fill her with cruelty. To her, femininity is viewed as being innocent while masculinity is viewed as impure and corrupt. Continuing with her speech, she asks them to, “come to [her] woman’s breasts/And take [her] milk for gall”(1.5.56-58). She uses milk to represent her feminine side and by asking the spirits to take her milk she intends for her femininity to be removed. Gall, on the other hand, is a bile that can be described as bitter and destructive and is used to represent the masculine side of her that she wants to unleash. She wants to be less feminine and instead, embody a more masculine and powerful identity. Only by hiding her femininity and replacing it with masculine traits of power and brutality is Lady Macbeth able to

To warn Macbeth of how to act during the feast before killing Duncan, she reminds him to "look like the innocent flower,/But be the serpent under't”(1.5.76-78), meaning to be feminine on the outside and masculine on the inside. She is able to relay the message with confidence that it will work for Macbeth because she has done so all her life. She has had a lot of practice with acting nice, like an “innocent flower” on the outside yet being cruel and evil like a “serpent” on the inside. When welcoming Duncan and his men for their stay at Macbeth’s castle, she puts on a false persona of feminine benevolence. Because of Lady Macbeth’s kindness and Duncan’s overall trust in his hosts, he does not suspect anything will happen and they are able to commit murder with more ease. Lady Macbeth praises Duncan and acts modest, declaring, “All [their] service,/In every point twice done and then done double,/Were poor and single business to contend/Against those honors deep and broad wherewith/[His] majesty loads [their] house”(1.6.18-22), seeming to Duncan like a humble and kind hostess who honors the king. By using her femininity to seem innocent, Lady Macbeth is able to lure her prey into a false sense of safety and then pounce when they are least expecting it. The next morning, when the body is discovered, Lady Macbeth pretends to not know what has happened