ipl-logo

Lady Macbeth And Female Characters In Shakespeare's Play

847 Words4 Pages

Women are never shown as strong dominant characters, whether it be in the past or modern day. Previously, women were owned by their husbands and told how to and what to do in their lives. Today, women are no longer owned but still seen as objects, over-sexualized and objectified. Propitiously, Lady Macbeth was not portrayed like this at all, nor was she depicted as most women in plays. Women in plays are usually displayed as weak, vulnerable character with little to no sense. However, Lady Macbeth is readily one of Shakespeare 's most powerful female characters. Lady Macbeth proves her strength to all by breaking free from gender norms fastened on women the 11th century; this can clearly be seen in her soliloquies and interactions with Macbeth. …show more content…

She is very peculiar. Upon finding out about Macbeth’s fortune about being King of Cawdor, she professes a fantasy she has saying, “Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty!” (1.5:40-43). In this sentence not only does Lady Macbeth confess her desire to be male, but, also her willingness to be filled with evil spirits in order to execute the murder of Duncan. Women of the 11th century did not, nor were they allowed, to have desires to be anything but themselves. They were limited to having children and cooking for their families, anything other then this was a man’s job. Women during this time were treated more like property than they were humans. However, Lady Macbeth refused to obey societies gender norms and validate herself to be more than she was meant to

Show More
Related
939 Words | 4 Pages

Lady Macbeth is convinced to rid her self of anything feminine and be fierce like a man. While plotting against Duncan, Lady Macbeth

Read More
2082 Words | 9 Pages

Women have always been portrayed as the weaker sex compared to men. It has been demonstrated in history itself and throughout literary works. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Homer’s The Odyssey, however, portray women to be more powerful than men, even when their society thought otherwise and underestimated them because of their gender. Lady Macbeth, The Three Witches, Queen Arête and Penelope demonstrate the astute, charming, and ambitious side of women that was overlooked by men when it came to having power and making decisions.

Read More
1503 Words | 7 Pages

Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a power hungry and vindictive women, whose character is against the stereotypes of a Jacobean woman. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a deceptive woman, who uses the fact that she is a woman as a weapon. ‘Why, worthy thane, you do unbend your noble strength to think.’ Lady Macbeth is talking to Macbeth.

Read More
998 Words | 4 Pages

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you see a woman with a man? You automatically think that the man is the one calling all the shots in the relationship. You also wonder why some women act as if they are the man of the relationship. But in the play Macbeth ;Shakespeare wanted to show that gender doesn't mean anything. From the year of 1040-1057; Macbeth was a king that actually existed in Scotland.

Read More
787 Words | 4 Pages

It’s no surprise, that Shakespeare’s Macbeth was clearly constructed as a rebellion against femininity roles of the time. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to believe they were inferior to men since men obtained desired masculine qualities such as strength, and loyalty, whereas women were viewed as figures of hospitality (1; 6; 28-31). Obviously, not being tempted by the luxury of subservient women, William Shakespeare rebuked this twisted belief, applying that women deserve more respect than their kitchen tables.

Read More
1476 Words | 6 Pages

Men were supposed to act as strong fighters, while women were locked in the domestic sphere. These gender roles are prominent in the character developments of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At first, Macbeth is a strong, heroic solider that shows unbounded courage in battle and loyalty to his king. As the play progresses, he becomes cold, ruthless, and miserable. Lady Macbeth takes on a “manly” role, which is surprising because of how patriarchal the society is.

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

In the beginning Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was a ruthless and masculine woman. She showed the audience that, mentally and emotionally, she was stronger than Macbeth. Although as the story started to continue the audience began to see that she was becoming mentally insane. Throughout the story there was also evidence of shakespeare showing the more masculinity you had the more cuel you became.

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

Not only women here have the gender roles. Macduff's family is killed and it is looked down on when men cry, yet here it is more emotionally taken by the audience than when Lady Macbeth gender roles are flipped. Having Macduff be manly man yet cry at the death of his family makes him more of a ‘well rounded character’ and lady macbeth's character is more ‘damaged’. The end of Lady Macbeth's power left so broken he had little response to it.

Read More
1152 Words | 5 Pages

It is clear that men and women have two different cultures in Shakespeare’s time, and the relationship between the two was hierarchical. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, it is obvious that the feminine emotions are far less desirable than the masculine. When Lady Macbeth plots to kill Duncan in order for Macbeth to become king, she is aware that he must suppress his natural “love, compassion, pity, [and] remorse” in order to kill Duncan, and she will need to ignore the same emotions, “which she clearly thinks of as feminine” (180). Macbeth, of course, eventually gives in to the gender definitions of his wife and society and kills Duncan. “He is on his way literally and figuratively to becoming the kind of man his wife has urged” (183).

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, this shows both Lady Macbeth's ambition that she's channeling through Macbeth and also her evil. Overall, Lady Macbeth has one goal--gain an abundance of power. To add, she does not let anything get in her way, including her femininity to achieve this goal.. To add, expert sources also agree that Lady Macbeth was willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve masculinity: “Lady Macbeth’s desire for power is matched by a murderous determination to achieve it. She associates ambition with both masculinity and cruelty, and she calls upon evil spirits to take away from her such feminine virtues as mercy and tenderness,

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

Well Lady Macbeth, who is dead set on having absolute power, disagrees with that. She convinces Macbeth to kill, to cover up the murders, and tries to convince him that these murders will get them to the top. Lady Macbeth calls upon the witches and states, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 lines 31 and 31). This shows that while in the pursuit of power, Lady Macbeth wanted it so much that she asked the witches to “unsex” her and make her more like man. But along with that you see the theme of gender roles are uncertain which ties into Lady Macbeth leading Macbeth in this pursuit of power, also giving him the ambition that she wants him to

Read More
1959 Words | 8 Pages

“Come, you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts,/unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of dire cruelty” (1.5.41-44). Lady Macbeth is the personification of male dominance, ruthlessness and violence. She hopes that she could take control of all action. She yearns to be a man and her implication is that she is more masculine than Macbeth. Her drive and violent nature is more akin to men and their masculinity.

Read More
851 Words | 4 Pages

The women in Macbeth are presented by Shakespeare to be powerful and ambitious which was unlike the typical views during Jacobean times. The playwright portrays Lady Macbeth and the witches to be highly influential to male characters in the play, which again contrasts the contemporary views to that time. Their ambition and power are demonstrated through the perversion of nature. This highlights the evil and immoral side, they possess. Shakespeare, however, presented Lady Macbeth and the witches to be manipulative and cunning, rather than violent like Macbeth was during the play.

Read More
1183 Words | 5 Pages

It is clear that Lady Macbeth is the dominant one in their relationship as she seizes control of all situations. Although “women are perceived as the primary caretaker of the home among other oppressive notions that pertain to them. They

Read More

More about Lady Macbeth And Female Characters In Shakespeare's Play

Related Topics

Open Document