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Rewriting Lady Macduff's In The 'Fiend-Like Queen'

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The culture and ideals of the different time periods is what sets one period apart from another. That same culture that sets time periods apart is what makes each period interesting. The best way to learn about the culture of any time period is by reading about that era. Most text, regardless of subject and genre, reflects the ideals and views of the time period they have been written in. These views and ideas come from the majority of people living in that time period and by no means do they reflect the beliefs of all that have, or are, living in that time period. To get a better feel for the renaissance period in particular, the fourteenth century through the seventeenth century, analyzing any of Shakespeare’s plays or poems give excellent …show more content…

Burnett supports his claim by adding that “she stays within the bounds of the household” (10), which also shows another one of the classic female renaissance qualities that Lady Macduff displays. Kemp, when talking about renaissance women, points out that “nearly all women … have … training in housewifery” (10) and it is suspected that Lady Macduff would have been no different. Her housewife duties have given her no reason to go out of her household bounds, especially with a young son. While staying in the bounds of the household Lady Macduff accepts her inferior position with “picturing herself as a wren fighting against the owl” (10), the wren being a smaller and weaker bird than the owl, declares Burnett. Accepting her inferior position to all other men, particularly to her husband, no questions asked, is yet another one of Lady Macduff’s numerous renaissance characteristics. Through Lady Macduff the qualities of being a loyal wife, accepting an inferior position to all men, and tending to wife like duties all support the claim of shakespeare’s female characters resembling traditional women from the fourteenth through seventh

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“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper” This repetition exposed that as a woman in thet Elizabethan era must conform to her gender’s expectations, obliging to anything that men do, as she as a woman does not have the right to be in charge of herself and must need a man to guide her as a woman couldn’t do it

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This study will focus on the way in which Shakespeare crafts his play and uses dramatic devices in his portrayal of Lady Macbeth in order to confront the gender stereotypes of the time, femininity and the natural order of society. During the early 17th century there was a substantial fear that if women were liberated from their domestic, maternal roles, the historically patriarchal society would unravel. With prevailing challenges of gender such as “When you durst do it, then you were a man” Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth to transgress the natural limits concomitant with her sex. In order to be able to answer the research question, it is vital to concretely establish the contemporary gender roles and the context of the play.

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Shakespeare believes that Gender roles shouldn’t be the stereotype of any relationship because the roles can be switched, and them being switched can cause a lot of trouble. When a woman thinks for men it ends up pretty bad. The play Macbeth shows that when a man follows a women's word because they love them, that's when

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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.

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After the juxtaposing social upheaval of the preceeding eras, the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603), and part of the Jacobean Era (1603-1625) were relatively stable periods in time. In this 67 year timespan, a plethora of political reform took place. It was considered to be the "Golden Age" in English history as creative works in literature, poetry, and theatre began to flourish (C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, page 1). This political reform helped in shaping what would come to be some of the most notable works in the history of literature, the works of William Shakespeare. First and foremost, it is important to understand the political ideals of William Shakespeare and how they go along with the time.

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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.

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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.

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Lady Macbeth pushes her husband to “compete in the male hierarchy,” making her a good wife (187). This is highly ironic because being a good wife is a feminine thing to do, even though she tries so hard to rid herself of these emotions and

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In Macbeth, Shakespeare displays how women manipulate men. Lady Macbeth’s ‘evil’ is an ideologically inscribed notion that is often linked to our literary tradition to strong female characters who seek power, who reject filial loyalty as prior to self-loyalty and who pursue desire in all its forms. (Thomas 82). In the story, after Duncan’s killing, Macbeth ended up feeling kind of bad.

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To be woman in the early days of the seventeenth century is to live in an age of deeply entrenched sexism and gender-roles. What is often not considered is the roles that men, despite their roles as oppressors, were forced into. Men were caged by extreme expectations of toxic masculinity. Othello, the great tragedy by William Shakespeare written approximately in 1603 deals deeply with this concept. David Bevington (an acclaimed literary critic) and Carol Thomas Neely (Department of English, University of Illinois) assert that the men in Othello, are perhaps most aptly defined by sexual anxiety.

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The Renaissance is a period in Europe from the 14th to 17th century. It was considered the time between the Middle Ages and modern history. It all started as a cultural movement in Italy in the late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe, which started the beginning of the Early Modern Age. There are many highly interesting periods of history but the level of artistic and architectural production during this time is amazing. So much that centuries later they continue to capture the public 's imagination.

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For Shakespeare’s plays to contain enduring ideas, it must illustrate concepts that still remain relevant today, in modern society. Shakespeare utilises his tragic play Othello, to make an important social commentary on the common gender stereotypes. During early modern England, Shakespeare had to comply to the strict social expectations where women were viewed as tools, platonic and mellow, and where men were displayed as masculine, powerful, tempered, violent and manipulative. As distinct as this context is to the 21st century, the play exposes how women were victimised by the men who hold primary power in the community in which they compelled women to conform to the ideal world of a perfect wife or confront an appalling destiny for challenging the system. Moreover, Shakespeare utilises the main antagonist, Iago, to portray how men are desperate to achieve what they want and to indirectly fulfil the stereotype of masculinity and power through manipulation.

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Finally, even though the women were shown to be strong throughout most of the play, Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff both have unfortunate outcomes. The women in Macbeth’s

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In the popular play Macbeth, Shakespeare compares the gender stereotypes portrayed to those different pre-existing ideas from other generations such as the 1900’s, the 50’s, and even today 's society. Macbeth has plenty of examples of the exaggeration of gender roles that clearly differentiate male and female by construing their proper roles as polar opposite or complementary. Examples proving that there are gender stereotypes in Macbeth pertain to characters such as Lady Macbeth, The Witches, and Macbeth himself. In Macbeth, the many different stereotypes of gender roles from throughout the century to today’s society have been displayed in many aspects of the play. With examples of the exaggeration of gender constructs pertaining to the male

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