William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a
At any time an event can occur that could change your mental thoughts and actions. You can’t always predict what’s going to happen or how you’re going to react to it. According to Robert Mckee “ True character is revealed in the choices a human being make under pressure” (Mckee). In the play Macbeth, shakespeare demonstrates how a single moment can change your life and reveal your character. Shakespeare shows this in Lady Macbeth and Macbeth several times throughout the play.
As the Macbeth’s portray the opposite of social constructs and expectations in the play, they eventually fall into their belonged stereotype after Lady Macbeth slowly starts to spiral downhill. Once Macbeth feels as though someone is in the way of him becoming King, he instantly creates a plan to murder them like Lady Macbeth did with Duncan. As they eventually take up each others common behavior, Lady Macbeth drives herself to insanity due to her womanly feelings. “I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.” , she is seen sleepwalking and participating in strange activities due to the insanity driven from guilt (5.1.4-6).
Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, focuses on the tumultuous events that surround a regicide. Despite being the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays, in his critical study of the play A. C. Bradley concludes that due to its vehement nature the audience is left with an impression “not of brevity but of speed” . The principal female character of Lady Macbeth is arguably one of his most contentious. Consumed with intense passion, ambition and greed she challenges the subservient role of the traditional Elizabethan woman. She has disturbed, horrified and intrigued both contemporary and modern audiences alike through her powerful diction.
In their defence they often reference to her small talks with Macbeth, where her opinions often surpass his (1; 7; 72-74). But, it’s clear that Lady Macbeth is no feminist lady. Throughout the play, she is viewed by the audience as a selfish female character, consumed with ambition to successfully bring the witches prophecy of Macbeth becoming king into reality. Unlike, Macbeth who tends to carry out his deeds holily, Lady Macbeths ambition completely disgraces the definition of feminist, believing regicide of faithful leader King Duncan is the way to gain power. Macbeths strong values, belies and attitudes of King Duncan, created a series of doubts towards Lady Macbeths idea, since.
Lady Macbeth takes on a “manly” role, which is surprising because of how patriarchal the society is. However, she “gradually falls apart, consumed by guilt, and eventually commits suicide”. (Klett) Lady Macbeth does not conform to medieval Scotland’s female stereotype of being a domestic wife.
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.
In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has power over her husband and manipulates his thoughts to kill others in order to gain more power; however, the plan failed as Lady Macbeth and Macbeth lost their sanity and brought their reign to an end by bringing misery and misfortune to everyone around them. Also, in Othello, Desdemona went against her father by sneaking out to marry Othello and completely went against the female norms by joining Othello to the battlefield. As a result, the antagonist manipulated Othello into killing Desdemona due to her determination and independence. Shakespeare has always portrayed females as strong, prideful and independent individuals who aren’t afraid of speaking up to defend their thoughts, however, due to the long-established gender roles, these individual will ultimately bring bad omen to their own family and lead them to their own
In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, women are portrayed as either pure angelic beings and jewels, or as whores who are impure. They are objectified and shown as something to be used. The only women in this play are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca compared to the main 6 male characters, not to mention the minor characters, who are also all male. Their depicted purpose is to belong to a man; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca’s lives revolve around being wives to Othello, Iago and Cassio. This fits into the idea of a perfect Elizabethan woman, who’s lives are subject to their husband’s rule across all aspects, to be disposed of as men wish.
[with] direst cruelty”, grants her the ability to act in a way that is considered both ruthless and respected among men, suggesting the difference between the actions of women and men as well as the difference in seriousness taken as a result of action from either gender(1.5.48-50). Without the presence of a stigma relating to gender throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has no reason to declare her disconnect with her feminine identity. However, the idea that gender makes one inferior
In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the subversion of gender roles to reinforce Elizabethan notions of female and male behavior through the characters of Lady Macbeth, the three witches, and Macbeth. The ideal woman in Shakespearean times was submissive and docile. She is expected to be a mother and hostess, and little else. However, Lady Macbeth is the exact opposite of this notion. She constantly challenges and manipulates her husband to feed her ever-growing ambition.
William Shakespeare is a very renowned playwright and poet from the 17th and 18th centuries. Shakespeare’s work is so advanced that it can not compare to other great authors and poets such as Homer, Dante, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy. Some of his well-known plays include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night, all of which have very detailed characters. Shakespeare’s work is not the easiest to understand at first, but it all makes sense in the end. William Shakespeare’s
An Aristotelian tragic hero is a character born of noble birth and, by destiny, has a tragic flaw that inevitably leads to his or her downfall and redeems his or herself by the end of the tragedy. For one to consider a play a tragedy, the character of the play must be noble, and the play typically starts off with happiness and wealth. The play ends with sadness and the hero has a tragic flaw that causes their downfall. In The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth fits the definition of an Aristotelian tragic hero. Macbeth is a tragic hero because he starts by being loyal and trustworthy, develops a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall, and he redeems a small measure of himself before he dies.
Juliet and Desdemona as victims or heroines William Shakespeare’s female characters were created as submissive, weak woman who are victimised by the people around them, especially the men. Desdemona was smothered to death with a pillow by her own husband, Othello, because he thought she was cheating on him. Juliet was seen as weak because she killed herself in order to be with Romeo. Ann-Marie MacDonald plays on this and turns the characters around by making them strong feminist women with feelings but with faults as well. She recreated Desdemona to be a strong woman who would stand up for her self.
William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, MacBeth is the story of an ambitious, nobleman whose partner drove him to murder. MacBeth had one major problem -ambition. When the opportunity arose to kill, he committed his first crime! Later he was forced into shame in order to cover that first step of evil had taken. MacBeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies due to its number of deaths, backstabbing characters, and assumptions.
