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Lady Macbeth Manipulative

933 Words4 Pages

Jessica Dhaliwal
ENG2D
Mr.Pentlow
12/03/2023
Is Lady Macbeth a purely evil and manipulative character responsible for the demise of Macbeth and the land or is the situation more complex than that?
Behind every great man is a woman, you must have heard of this saying before, but Lady Macbeth sent her husband and the land down a course of tragic downfall and devastation. Lady Macbeth is a virtuously relentless and manipulative character and is responsible for the demise of Macbeth and the land. She is manipulative, twistedly evil, and uses toxic masculinity. How these tactics and traits apply directly will be explored in this essay.

Firstly, Lady Macbeth is emotionally manipulative in her actions and language toward others. She manipulates …show more content…

Lady Macbeth also …show more content…

Toxic masculinity is encouraging men to show their dominance through aggression and violence. She keeps on pushing Macbeth to do immoral things, and at one point, she starts to feel guilty because she sees the monster Macbeth has become. She has a sense of feeling like Macbeth is now “manly” enough, but at what cost? Lady Macbeth defies usual gender roles by saying “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts unsex me here”. (Shakespeare 1.5.38) Lady Macbeth wishes that she was a man so she could carry out these barbaric murder plans of hers. She asserts herself as the man in the relationship; being the dominant one. She also violates Macbeth by saying he is “too full o’the milk of human kindness.” (Shakespeare 1.5.17) This quote insinuates Macbeth is frail and lacks intrepidity. This leads Macbeth to feel he needs to establish himself as masculine. During the period, gender roles were that the man in the relationship was relentless and powerful while the woman was forgiving and delicate. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the ideal gender roles of the time were abolished and abused by Lady Macbeth to be used against her husband. Toxic masculinity is shown in quotes like “When you durst do it, then you were a man.” (Shakespeare 1.7.49) She challenges Macbeth's honor and virility and makes him feel like he has to commit the murders to prove her wrong. Lady Macbeth strongly emphasized the need for aggression and

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