Lady Macbeth By William Shakespeare

2040 Words9 Pages
In Macbeth, we see Lady Macbeth be ruthless in her endeavor to help Macbeth achieve the title of King; at times, she even has more villainous (masculine) tendencies than some of the male characters. Does her violent ‘sacrifice’ - the “murdering ministers” to drink milk from her breast - show her embrace of the cruel and renouncement of the good—a good that is tied into femininity? If her renouncement of the “milk of human kindness” equates to masculinity or villainous behavior, then the text may be saying that her femininity is required to be liked as a female character. This perception of masculinity - a skewed version of gender - do nothing but create and drive the force of the play, creating chaotic outcomes for herself and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth does not understand her own gender and the power it holds, but rather society 's idea of gender is at work. Underneath the lines of the play, the actions taken by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, the real ‘villain’ of the play is society’s push and drive to render and label people.
In the first moments we meet Lady Macbeth, she is already concocting a plan to help Macbeth achieve kingship from the vision the Three Witches foretold. Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth’s character, and she knows that without support he will not be able to proceed with the necessary steps to a achieve kingship, though he so desperately wants it. He wants others to do for him what he cannot or will not do. Lady Macbeth is manipulative - ‘’that I may pour my spirits
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