Cruel Woman In William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

In the modern 21sr century, the roles and behaviors expected of individuals remains analogous despite gender. This ideology stems from the preceding movement in equality, which preaches that differences of sex appear insignificant. Despite this notion, there remains distinct differences in the physical and psychological makeups of both men and women. In most cultures, certain duties remain associated with specific genders. With this in mind, Shakespeare’s Macbeth heightens the supernatural evil possessing Lady Macbeth as she condones murder for her own selfish ambition, while in Shakespeare’s time women were regarded as peaceful and full of feminine sympathies. This anachronism with the reality of Shakespeare’s day, illustrates the immense sense of wickedness and abnormality emphasizing her character’s influence on her husband and the plot of the play. In contrast, Macbeth appears to some extent a more acceptable evil due to a greater compliance with the gender standards and moral transition during the Shakespearean era. Shakespeare utilizes numerous literary intentions in order to express these diverse levels of evil to provide an element of depth behind the mental reactions and deteriorations of the characters until their final decease into the complete darkness of death.

In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, set in 16th century Scotland, women are portrayed as powerful with much influence on the males in the play. Shakespeare portrays women as powerful, they are seen as powerful because of the influence of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth to gain power in Europe. Another example is how the witches had supernatural powers as they told Macbeth his fate. The portrayal of women in the play are conveyed through both, Lady Macbeth and the witches. In Macbeth, women are powerful as both Lady Macbeth and the witches, have great impact on how the play is written.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare brings about one of the most controversial topic of the gender portrayal in a play. During Shakespearean times, women were considered as the weaker sex, physically and emotionally. On the other hand, men were seen as the dominant sex that is expected to be the head of their households and a strong figure. Unlike this stereotypical representation of men and women, Shakespeare introduces the reversal of gender roles in his play. Shakespeare’s portrayal of the relationship and characteristics of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth diverged from the stereotypical representation of both men and women. The author, William Shakespeare’s use of reverse gender roles which contradicted with the traditional gender roles, is what

This is apparent when she deals with Macbeth leaving the gory daggers at the site of the murder, “Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/ Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood/ That fears a painted devil.”(scene 2 act 2 56-58). Macbeth is portrayed as emotionally unstable and soft as he is afraid to even go back into the room where the murder took place, “I’ll go no more/ I am afraid to think what I have done”(scene 2 act 2 54-55). This interaction between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth really shows the unusual roles one another play in there relationship because in a situation where someone is murdered or their is a serious crime, women aren’t usually the ones who are brave and strong minded about it, men are.

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main villain of the play is Lady Macbeth because she is the driving force of ambition, a manipulative, and the most cruel character.

‘Macbeth’ is a play in which a Lord and his Lady come into supreme power through acts of injustice and despicable inhumanities. In the play Macbeth there is no main focal theme that overrules the others; the play however has several underlying themes, namely there are important themes i.e. good and evil (like ying and yang), greed and power, guilt and conscience, fear, ambition – this leads to the murder of other people illustrating to the reader that even the most sane of people can result to character diminishing methods to get what they want. These particular themes are the most prominent and when closely looked at, it can help to understand characters and meanings behind the play. The theme of ambition is very important in this play,

Here we see Lady Macbeth calling dark spirits to take away her pureness and give poison just so she could have the power to kill the king showing us she has no guilt, which shows us the non-violent “female” traits are just as powerful as violent “male” ones.

Lady Macbeth asks external forces to fill her with cruelty because she believes in order to commit the necessary acts needed to become queen, she must be completely purged of her kind soul. After reading Macbeth's letter describing the witches and the prophecy that he and Lady Macbeth are to become rulers of Cawdor, Lady Macbeth realizes that Macbeth's kindness is problematic to his path to become king; Lady Macbeth describes him saying, "thy nature; it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness" (1.5 16). Here Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth's kindness to milk because she believes, that like milk, being kind and harmless will not allow him to do whatever it takes to become king, instead she believes he has to be cruel and merciless in order to

The traditional gender role for men and women is a strict set of expectations one must face and either choose to follow or defy it. In the Shakespearian era women portray as the weaker sex because they display as needing protection as the more fragile, innocent, and dependent sex, whereas men have authority as strong, capable, and honourable beings. However, the traditional gender roles play in reversal in Macbeth by William Shakespeare by having Lady Macbeth, the Three Witches (weird sisters), and Macbeth defy the gender roles that allow women and men to portray in a unique way in society. First, Lady Macbeth is defiant to her role as a woman because she is able to take initiative, deceive others, and commit violent acts. Secondly, the three Witches are in fact sisters which avid them to follow their role as women, however they defy their roles because they manipulate others, have the capability to make independent decisions, and kill without hesitation. Finally, Macbeth defies his roles as a man in the Shakespearian era because he acts cowardly, isn’t able to carry out duties himself, and is disloyal to his companions.

The women in Macbeth, namely Lady Macbeth, contradict these expectations through their commanding, and ambitious tones. During that second half of act one Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the ruling figure in the house. Instead of being a grateful and fulfilling housewife she instead pushes and commands Macbeth to commit assassination. She berates him when he falters and asked if he would rather, “live like a coward in thine own esteem.” (Shakespeare)

In Macbeth, one of the most tragic and well known plays, William Shakespeare changes women’s part in society. During this time period, women are known to be both mentally and physically weaker than men. Women are called to be only housewives. Shakespeare reflected the image of women in society by giving the men bigger leads in his plays. Only in a few of Shakespeare's plays did he give women strong leading roles. Macbeth is one of the few plays where women play a more powerful role than the men. In Macbeth, he gives the women unusual traits like manipulation and betrayal. In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, women like Lady Macbeth , the trio witches, and Lady Macduff portray non-feminine traits.

Destruction, Cruelty, Deception. These words describe the tone that Shakespeare portrays in Macbeth. Macbeth shows these actions by committing murder and showing his disloyalty through his actions. Macbeth does not have any motive at all, but the constant pressuring from Lady Macbeth drives him right into the commitment of murder of the current king of Scotland, King Duncan. Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to be calm, these actions Lady Macbeth took was a sign of deception because of her continuous actions of driving Macbeth to commit murder. The 1971 version of Macbeth, directed by Roman Polanski, best illustrates Shakespeare’s reason for including the three witches. Wright’s version uses different techniques such as audio, lighting, and different camera angles to inform the viewers of Shakespeare’s intent for including the three witches, which ultimately leads to the death of Macbeth.

It is interesting to note the importance of gender in the personifications of evil in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is as obsessed with her gender as her evil. When she implores evil to "unsex" her, to take her "woman's breasts for gall" she reveals the sense of powerlessness and weakness she feels. Being a woman makes her dependant on her husband for her social

ruthless while females are seen as forgiving, so Lady Macbeth asks for masculinity allowing for

Subservient, ignorant, passive, timid: these are the qualities that described the ideal 17th century woman in the eyes of Europeans. In the play Macbeth, author William Shakespeare explores the roles of these women through his female characters, challenging preconceived notions and setting up his personal perspective on what a woman's niche in society truly is. Through his contrasting female characters of the gentlewoman and Lady Macduff versus the witches and Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare depicts the reality of how women actually function is society.