Villains are said to possess evil characteristics . Compare the ways that lady Macbeth and a selection of speakers in poems are presented as evil villains.
Lady Macbeth and Porphyria are both portrayed as being dominant female characters. In Porphyria’s lover, its states “And last she sat down by my side and called me, when no voice replied she put my arm around her waist” .This reveals that porphyria was very forward and persistent in showing her affection. For the Victorian times, this would have not been viewed in a positive manner as women were viewed as innocent and her actions would have been looked down upon. She was also very persistent to get what she wanted as he didn’t’t reply to her but she still put her arms around her waist demonstrating how
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Porphyria uses her sexuality when it states “made her smooth white shoulder bare”. As at the Victorian time, that would have been seen as very provocative and revealing and she tried to seduce him to get what she wanted. The Victorian audience would not of liked that as women were seen to be pure. Lady Macbeth is also manipulative as she constantly question Macbeth masculinity which is obviously an insecurity of his and she does it because she knows it would deeply affect him, as he would not want to be seen as “unmanly” and “weak” to his wife . She also tells him “ when you durst do it than you are a man” so as well as manipulating him she is being threatening as she is saying unless he does it , she doesn’t’t view him as a man. The fact that lady Macbeth is questioning her husband’s masculinity and talking to him like that the audience would be appalled and that fact that she was manipulating Macbeth it could have been seen like she was trying to control him which would have been disapproved by an Elizabethan audience as women were under the control of their