The Victim Of Women In Macbeth

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.

In Medieval times women were viewed as innocent beings who must be controlled by the men in their family; however, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth a woman is the mastermind behind the start of several horrendous deeds. Lady Macbeth was a woman with determination. When it was prophesized that Macbeth would be king, Lady Macbeth wished that her husband would immediately be at her side so she “may pour [her] spirits in [his] ear” (1. 5. 25). Lady Macbeth wanted nothing less that Macbeth to be king. In order for Macbeth to ascend to the throne, it needed to be emptied of King Duncan. Macbeth was an ambitious man but he was not evil, he would not commit murder to gain the throne; therefore, Lady Macbeth took it upon herself to see her husband crowned king. By making Lady Macbeth the mastermind behind a murder, Shakespeare disputed the typical role of women which labeled them as innocent and harmless beings.

According to gender theory, society assigns certain roles for men and women. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, these gender roles play an important part in violence. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth appeal to the role of “manhood” as violent and aggressive in order to accomplish the murders of King Duncan and Banquo. Women are portrayed as initiators of crimes and are viewed as devious.So, throughout the play, gender roles provide a means for murders and viciousness.

This is because she originally talked him into doing it and apparently forced him to go through with it when she couldn’t. She was somehow the dominant player in the relationship and had the ability to manipulate Macbeth however she wanted. This is not correct because Macbeth had to be in control of the relationship, he lived in a very patriarchal era. On top of that, it doesn’t matter how dominant his wife is, she wouldn’t be able to force him to commit the ultimate crime of killing one’s ruler. Lady Macbeth never would’ve had much influence over him, which means that the thoughts must’ve already been his and she just assisted him in putting them into motion.

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, there is a big gap between masculinity and femininity. Gendered roles in the play influence the plot by showing who has the most dominant and powerful positions in the story, which is Lady Macbeth’s character. Of course, a reader would think that at the time that the play was written, the men would be strong and tough and the women just be hanging around taking care of kids. Well, there is a mixed answer for that, especially for Lady Macbeth’s character, who begins the play by asking to be “unsexed.” After reading the play, Lady Macbeth had a more dominant position, as she commands Macbeth into committing the crimes and taking control of every situation possible. Men like Macbeth, Macduff, and Malcom,

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, no one person is innocent, however, the women in Macbeth as perceived as so. Because of this, many women in the play use the perception of innocence to disguise their acts of corruption, though the innocence is also seen as an obstacle to be overcome, especially by Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth is the mastermind behind the whole scheme of corruption that she and Macbeth are involved in. She plans the whole murder of the first king, Duncan but still, at the end of the play, she is seen as unimportant by the majority of the cast. This has to do with the predisposition everyone, even women, had of their incapability to do harm because of their innocence. Once this predisposition is questioned, however, acts of corruption can be hidden under it. Even after these acts have been committed, the people in Macbeth are still unsuspecting of women. In Macbeth, women are seen as innocent and incapable of doing harm. The women in Macbeth see this perceived innocence as an obstacle but also a blanket of security for their actions of corruption.

While it has been confirmed that numerous characters view Lady Macbeth as a “gentle lady” (2.3.96), she is, however, a woman who desires to live a luxurious life. After receiving the message that Macbeth will soon become king, Lady Macbeth is shown to be in a forward-looking attitude and praises her husband that she cannot wait to be Queen of Scotland. Lady Macbeth’s greediness can be demonstrated as she says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/ What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness...Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem/ To have thee crowned withal” (1.5.15-17.32-33). These lines of the speech establishes that Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner in the relationship, and her plan of helping Macbeth to become king, will also have her as queen undoubtedly. Lady Macbeth is a clever woman, who can organize plans that everything will go her way. The wickedness of Lady Macbeth is shown as she fears of her femininity and invites evil “[s]pirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts…[to] unsex [her], And fill [her] from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty” (1.5.47-50). After Lady Macbeth has been informed of King Duncan’s arrival to her castle, her thoughts shortly turn to murder because she wishes Duncan murdered without any remorse. Since Lady Macbeth had opened her mentality and body to

Gender roles play an important part in Macbeth. When they are broken chaos occurs causing a disturbance in the society,“At the centre of this disturbance of normative gender roles is Lady Macbeth. Her headstrong attempt to unsex herself and her masculine indifference to blood and death make her a terrifying presence, who is not a woman”(Bernstein 31). Lady Macbeth’s rejection of her gender role gives her a unwomanly and supernatural aura compared to women who follow the rules. Constraints on her identity force her to show it in other ways, ie through violence. This creates a moral dilemma in the mind of Lady Macbeth, “In a society in which femininity is divorced from strength and womanliness is equated with weakness, … , the strong woman finds herself hemmed in psychologically forced to reject her own womanliness… if she is true to her strength” ( Asp 159). Lady Macbeth defies her society, but in the end her strength fails. This demonstrates how in the end stereotypes prevail. She causes her own demise through her corruption. Lady Macbeth loses her identity and eventually she commits suicide when her strength gives in. With the loss of her identity comes the loss of her humanity,“ … to “unsex” and depersonalize her into yet a fourth weird sister, even to dehumanize her into the “fund-like” creature that Malcolm styles her at the end”(Bloom 99). Her unyielding desire to defy stereotype labels her with yet another stereotype as an unnatural being, much like the witches. Lady Macbeth’s personality and actions reflect that of the witches. Both parties convince Macbeth to murder King Duncan for power and fulfill his ambitions. As Lady Macbeth represents the female gender role, Macbeth represents the male gender

“Never underestimate the power of a woman. Women can do almost anything that men can do” (London Mond). In Shakespeare play Macbeth everyone is convinced that Macbeth is “the real bad guy” of the play. Little does everyone know Shakespeare took a different route on how he wanted “the real bad guy” or should he say “the real bad women” to be presented in his classic work. Shakespeare presents us with his beautiful, ambitious, ruthless and manipulative leading female role Lady Macbeth.

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)

Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, begins with the protagonist, Macbeth, being faced with a supernatural prophecy. The temptation of power further corrupts Macbeth as the play progresses, until his murders catch up to him. Despite the time in which a man lives, he is surrounded by opportunity and the constant battle between the loss and acquisition of power. For those deep in search for power often experience the blurring of the lines between right and wrong. In the 17th century, gender roles were strict and unmoving. Men symbolized the power and strength, while the women represented the caring and submissive traits of human nature. Shakespeare utilizes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s marriage to further toy with the audience’s minds and inverts the gender roles.Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s marriage demonstrates inverted gender roles; but as Lady Macbeth utilizes her influence over Macbeth, her driven attitude leads him down the path of corruption.

In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, gender plays a pivotal role in the development of the overall plot and as the play advances, certain characters, including Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience a reversal in traditional gender behaviors. Additionally, we see gender confusion among other characters that enhances conflict in the play. Originally, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are portrayed in ways that enforce their respective masculinity and feminism in accordance to the society around them. As Macbeth begins to contemplate his decision regarding the killing of Duncan, his marriage becomes the primary driving force behind his action and thoughts in this matter. Although in some cases, male and female roles in this play remain static, the

The women in the story of Macbeth are viewed as both powerful and powerless, strong and weak, and most importantly predator and prey (Shakespeare,497). The darkness inside one woman in particular, ends up flowing over into the others, twisting the story toward it’s inevitable close. That woman is Lady Macbeth, representing greed. Her lust for power ends up causing Macbeth to be comfortable with murder (Shakespeare,455). She and the witches use their various powers of persuasion to cause him to commit this horrific crime (Shakespeare,446).

William Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Macbeth”, emancipates the women to become pivotal the whole action of the play, despite the misogyny and sexism during Shakespeare's time. Lady Macbeth and the Three Witches don’t just play subsidiary roles but are vital to the play. Their influence and manipulation on Macbeth, are the catalyst for Macbeth’s murderous actions, thus changing him from a man of loyalty and probity, into an evil monster with unbelievable and intractable ambition for power. However, it may be argued that the woman are just playing a small part and Macbeth is orchestrating the whole play.

Generally, Macbeth is thought of as Shakespeare’s most feminist play. With a supposedly powerful female character and an inversion of gender roles, it is easy to see how this idea came into being. However, it is totally wrong. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a play about an ambitious nobleman who would go to any measure to become king and retain that position after receiving a prophecy from three witches. At first, he is unwilling to resort to violence to become king but his wife, Lady Macbeth, manipulates him into doing so. Once the first murder is complete, he has found a thirst for killing and continues to kill various people until he is eventually killed and the rightful king takes his place. The claims of this being a feminist play stem from Lady Macbeth’s character and her relationship with Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is violent and evil, while Macbeth is originally too kind, showing a gender role reversal. Even so, there are many problematic aspects of Macbeth that completely negate the few progressive components in Shakespeare’s writing. Macbeth is a misogynist play because it promotes strict gender roles, gender non-conforming women are demonized and seen as responsible for men’s problems, and by the second half of the play, any innovative gender role reversals are themselves reversed.