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Feminist Stereotypes In Macbeth By William Shakespeare

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In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Shakespeare goes against traditional feminist theories by giving his female characters many characteristics that are both masculine and feminine. In traditional ideas, females are seen as “inferior” to men and only have the purpose of listening to their husbands and taking care of their families. Shakespeare’s female characters within the story of Macbeth, however, do not follow these ideas. Firstly, the character Lady Macbeth goes against the ideas of women at that time by her attempts to urge Macbeth into being responsible for Duncan’s demise. During the era that Macbeth was written, women were seen as mimicry towards their roles in society, altruistic, and only serve the purpose of taking care of their families. …show more content…

This is shown in several places throughout Macbeth, one of the places that strongly shows this is where she receives a letter from Macbeth saying that he has decided to kill the king. Lady Macbeth responds to this inviting spirits into her so that she may not be as weak as a woman and can help her husband accomplish the tasks that will ensure him becoming king. She does this when she says, “... Unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty.” (1.5.48). By doing this, she invites spirits into her so that they give her the strength to commit cruel deeds without feeling any regret in the future. After doing this, she attempts to act as though nothing has happened while in public. Macbeth seconds this mask, wanting her to act kind and compassionate because “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” (1.7.95-96). In other words, this quote means that Macbeth is telling her to hide what is in her false heart behind a mask so that no one may know her personality. This shows a break in feminine stereotypes by Lady Macbeth’s efforts towards gaining non-feminine characteristics so that she may gain the ability to do things that a woman could not …show more content…

This is first shown in the play of Macbeth when she hesitates in killing Duncan herself. Even though she began to persuade Macbeth to kill the king by challenging him and saying that she would do the act herself if she were a man, she did not have any plans to have the king die by her hand. Instead, she gives an excuse by saying, “Hark! I laid their daggers ready, Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t.” (2.2.15-17) This quote shows Lady Macbeth hesitating to kill Duncan and gives the excuse that she cannot do so because of how he resembles her father as he sleeps. This shows a shred of weakness in the Lady Macbeth which reveals her innate weakness as a woman. This, however, is not the only way that she is shown to follow the traditional ideas of woman. Towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth commits suicide giving proof that has failed acting against her nature and is weak. When she fails to become more masculine and can no longer bear the guilt of convincing Macbeth to kill the king, she kills herself thus showing the stereotypes of women in Macbeth. This relates to more traditional ideas of feminism because women were usually only written in plays with the roles of one of three ways: for marriage, madness, and suicide. Lady Macbeth, while also going strongly against the ideas of women and their roles, she also follows the reasons as to why a

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In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, William Shakespeare describes Lady Macbeth as a strong and independent woman. A strong female character is a woman that is simply about being able to persevere through extreme adversity. Lady Macbeth is a weak woman because she dies at the end of the play because of her ambition to kill Duncan and attempt other murderers. Her ambition leads to the breakdown of Scotland and to the murderer of King Duncan and at the end to the death of her and her husband. In the beginning of the book, she is a strong and fierce woman while Macbeth has a very weak relationship.

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For example, she often questioned her husband’s authority and manlihood, which, at that time, was practically forbidden for any female to do. Along with that, she requests to be “unsexed” so she wouldn’t be assosiated with the frail stereotype females had. Furthermore, she even mentioned that she would “dash the brains out” of her own child, showing that she isn’t tender at all, unlike the common woman of her time. Altogether, Lady Macbeth is a prime example some of the gender-role reversals in Macbeth due to her obdurate personality, wicked mindset, authoritve behavior, and selfish motives.

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Lady Macbeth does not submit to her husband, which is one of the main roles of an Elizabethan woman. She has not borne any children, and if she did, she did not try as much as a typical Elizabethan woman. Lady Macbeth also tries to deceive others. She calls on evil spirits, she should be more of a religious woman if she was following the stereotype.

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Lady Macbeth stereotypical role as a female is to be a “good wife” and care for her husband. During this time, women had no status, during this time, women were nothing; their status was entirely dependent on their husband’s; thus, they are one unit. This mentorship became the norm for women to devote all their efforts in creating the most “impeccable husband” so they could reap the benefits. Lady Macbeth is an extreme example of wives aiding their husbands. This perception of women, as nothing but mere advocates may have causes Lady Macbeth’s frustration within herself, which leads to her selfish ambitions in becoming queen.

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1. The portrayals of masculinity and femininity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth challenge stereotypes of men and women because Lady Macbeth breaks many stereotypes about women. Lady Macbeth is the one who encourages Macbeth to murder Duncan so he will be the King and so that Banquo’s children won’t be on the throne. Lady Macbeth says, “What beast was’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst 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, 55-58).

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Throughout the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many metaphors and examples about gender and traditional gender roles to show us how the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, change throughout the piece and become different people. At the beginning of the play, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have many characteristics that are usually associated with the opposite gender. Shakespeare creates these gender roles to show how the characters change many of their behaviors when they are confronted with stress and power. He specifically picks these roles based on how he wants to portray these character’s views and how he wants them to fit to a common gender guideline for that era.

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1.0 Introduction Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is a renowned tragedy in the history of literature. The play has been read in different perspectives, but how women are presented and what roles they play are ignored. “Women in Shakespearean tragedies are portrayed and presented as lesser and negative stereotypes” (Jajja 228), and the play Macbeth has reinforced and strengthened male dominance and patriarchal values. Martine Lings (90) believes “Lady Macbeth wins him (Macbeth) back to his criminal intention betrays the extreme superficiality of the few moral scruples that he has left.” But Shakespeare does not give “any indication that Macbeth fears that Lady Macbeth will strike him, nor does she make physical threats against him.

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