preview

Lady Macbeth vs. Serena Essay

Decent Essays

Comparing Serena and Lady Macbeth It is no secret that Ron Rash’s Serena is a very similar character in comparison to Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. These two women are very much alike and only slightly different. Though Rash does not claim to base his work off of Macbeth, the two characters resemble each other in a couple different ways. Serena and Lady Macbeth are alike in the fact that they are both ambitious, malicious, and cold-blooded women who are driven by their love for their husbands. Neither of these women exhibit typical female behaviors and it causes readers to be captivated by their motives and actions. In Rash’s Serena, the Pemberton’s are actively destroying land for their lumber business. When Serena joins Mr. …show more content…

Another prime way that these two characters resemble each other is in their acts of evil. Both Serena and Lady Macbeth are portrayed as wicked and malicious because they are so willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goals. Killing people is not a problem for either woman, innocent or not, as long as it fuels their own advancement. Readers might question why these women were so ruthless when it came to murder, but like their ambitious side, the desire to better themselves and their husbands was the driving factor. Serena wanted the business to expand and the cost of someone else’s life meant nothing to her; Macbeth wanted her husband to be King and she was also willing to get rid of anyone who could hinder that dream. Examples of this evil in Serena include her ruthlessness when it came to cutting down trees for lumber, her vicious attempts to find and murder Rachel, the murder of Widow Jenkins by slitting her throat, and the shocking finale of the murder of her own husband. In comparison, Lady Macbeth forces her husband to murder. Though these two women are obviously very similar characters, there are some differences between them as well. Serena is definitely more ruthless in Rash’s book than Macbeth is. She commits a much more considerable number of crimes than Lady Macbeth does by her own hands. Another example of this evil in Serena is her reaction to blood; it arouses her

Get Access