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Similarities Between Lady Macbeth And Curley's Wife

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Compare how women are presented in Macbeth and Of Mice and Men and are it true to say that women are villains rather than victims commit
Both Shakespeare and John Steinbeck wrote their books where at the time male dominance was the norm. Both Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife challenge this norm by manipulating men and in doing so they gain power over them, we know that Lady Macbeth is more successful in achieving power as she accomplishes her goal of becoming queen unlike curley’s wife who dies before achieving her ambition. Both female characters attempt to become socially accepted as independent women in society. Both writers gave their characters roles in society which would have been unusual for a women to have as male supremacy was …show more content…

Curley's wife tried reaching out to someone she could relate with, someone who also struggled with people. She unfortunately causes a ripple effect going through till the end of the book, she tells Lennie to “Feel right aroun’ there an’ see how soft it is” this seductive line is an failed attempt to become friends with Lennie, without thinking of the impression she could be giving out to other men of the ranch and to her husband Curly. As a consequence of her actions, Lennie started applying pressure resulting in her panicking then causing Lennie to get scared and kill her. Towards the end of the book Lennie is shot due to the fact that George thinks Lennie is a threat to other people. Curley's wife could be seen as the cause of this and therefore portrayed as a villain in the reader's eyes. On the other hand, while even though this can be questionable, Curley’ wife attack on crooks was vile and dehumanizing to the point where he was pushing himself up against the wall, swelling inside feeling less and less appreciated as a human or worker on the ranch. Curley's wife outbreak originated from her joy of having power over men she knows how easily she can manipulate men for her own personal gain. Furthermore, she knows she has power over crooks as he is black and knows has full control over

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This showed that even though she doesn’t have any power she still has power over African Americans. She can even threaten to have Crooks killed because he talked to her. After she said that “crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. ‘yes, ma’am’” (80). This shows that the words Curley’s wife has a terrible effect on Crooks.

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(87) More specifically, the other men on the ranch refuse to talk to her because Curley’s position of power on the ranch portrays him as having the ability to have any man on the ranch lose their job. Furthermore, when Curley’s wife was conversing with Lennie in the barn and confided in him, she said: “Well, I ain’t

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