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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Essay

401 Words2 Pages

The portrayal of the two main female characters Nurse Ratched in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth by Shakespeare both emphasize the power differential and utilization of emasculation that defies stereotypical gender roles of the 16th and 20th century, however, the rationale to climbing the power hierarchy pyramid differ as Nurse Ratched’s authoritative demeanor exemplifies traditional masculine characteristics, misandry and a need for order, while Lady Macbeth embraces her womanhood implementing manipulation to generate chaos. For example, Lady Macbeth mocks her husband, “Infirm of purpose/Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/Are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood/That fears a painted devil.” (2-2), challenging his masculinity for feeling remorse and employs her …show more content…

Lady Macbeth’s assertion of power over her husband in the form of humiliation while simultaneously employing her femininity allows her to use her sexual characteristics specifically her breasts to obtain advanced standing in her overall pursuit of power. On the contrary Nurse Ratched also known as Big Nurse is asexually domineering demanding the patients in the ward “Calm down, as the best thing we can do is go on with our daily routine”(1975 One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and instills fear as “He’s maybe got more to say, but at this point Big Nurse usually hushes him.”(Kesey 44). While her assertion of humiliation is similar to Lady Macbeth, her rise to power is solely derived from her utilization of fear and abandonment of femininity. By portraying herself in a hypermasculine manner, Nurse Ratched avoids exposing her “breasts” that reveal her femininity and order remains within the mental ward resulting in chaos that affects the hierarchy of

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