Lady Macbeth is one of the most complex characters in Shakespeare's play "Macbeth". She is portrayed as a powerful and ambitious woman who plays an important role in driving her husband Macbeth to his own quest for power. Lady Macbeth is determined to become queen and uses manipulative tactics to commit murder. Lady Macbeth's desire to become "unsexed" is an example of how she defies the gender roles of her society. By asking the spirits to remove her feminine features, Lady Macbeth rejects the traditional expectations of women in her society, which were to be passive, nurturing, and maternal. Instead, Lady Macbeth would rather embrace traditionally masculine traits such as ambition, aggression, and power. This desire to reject her femininity and embrace masculine traits reflects Lady Macbeth's hunger for power and her willingness to do whatever it takes to obtain it, even if it means defying societal norms. …show more content…
One of the ways Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth is through the use of personification. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth is often associated with darkness, which is personified as a metaphorical force that consumes those who come into contact with it. Lady Macbeth's willingness to manipulate those around her is a manifestation of the darkness she embodies and
She is unafraid to challenge Macbeth's masculinity and push him to commit murder. In her soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits to "unsex" her and make her more masculine so that she can carry out the murder herself. This shows that Lady Macbeth is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals, even if it means going against traditional gender roles. Her manipulation of Macbeth shows her cunning and her ability to control her husband. Sure!
Well Lady Macbeth, who is dead set on having absolute power, disagrees with that. She convinces Macbeth to kill, to cover up the murders, and tries to convince him that these murders will get them to the top. Lady Macbeth calls upon the witches and states, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 lines 31 and 31). This shows that while in the pursuit of power, Lady Macbeth wanted it so much that she asked the witches to “unsex” her and make her more like man. But along with that you see the theme of gender roles are uncertain which ties into Lady Macbeth leading Macbeth in this pursuit of power, also giving him the ambition that she wants him to
At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as assertive, driven, and knows exactly what she wants and how she’s going to get it. Through the character of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare challenges the perception that women
The personality of Lady Macbeth is very untraditional for the time period. She takes on more of a masculine and dominant role in their relationship. Before Macbeth becomes king, he is an almost timid and easily provoked man. Lady Macbeth takes this as an opportunity to manipulate him into making power moves, which she was secretly behind them all. She knew he had a vision for murder but not a hand for it, so when the time came down to it she fell back into her manipulative standpoint, "You do unbend…
After she receives a letter from Macbeth about his encounter with the witches, she immediately thinks of killing Duncan for them to achieve their fate. To prepare herself for the murder, she tells the spirits to, “unsex [her] here,/And fill [her] from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty”(1.5.47-50). By asking for the spirits to “unsex” her, she wants them to take all the usual traits associated with the female sex away and to replace them with masculine traits of fortitude and violence. Lady Macbeth also associates being masculine with being cruel as she tells the spirits to fill her with cruelty. To her, femininity is viewed as being innocent while masculinity is viewed as impure and corrupt.
Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.
Throughout the play, Macbeth’s actions are being controlled by the emotions of greed, fear, and jealousy. Firstly, Lady Macbeth begins to ask the spirits to hide her fear. She shows this when she asks the spirits to make her masculine and cruel. This is
Lady Macbeth is convinced to rid her self of anything feminine and be fierce like a man. While plotting against Duncan, Lady Macbeth
She progresses throughout the play from a seemingly atrocious and inconsiderate creature to a very fragile woman. In the beginning of the play, she is very assertive and athirst for power. For example, she pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophecies. Towards the end of the play, she seems to be a scared, and regretful woman that questions her and her husband’s quest for power. Overall, Lady Macbeth is a self-driven, ruthless, and resilient woman in Shakespeare’s play.
“Come, you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts,/unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of dire cruelty” (1.5.41-44). Lady Macbeth is the personification of male dominance, ruthlessness and violence. She hopes that she could take control of all action. She yearns to be a man and her implication is that she is more masculine than Macbeth. Her drive and violent nature is more akin to men and their masculinity.
The women in Macbeth are presented by Shakespeare to be powerful and ambitious which was unlike the typical views during Jacobean times. The playwright portrays Lady Macbeth and the witches to be highly influential to male characters in the play, which again contrasts the contemporary views to that time. Their ambition and power are demonstrated through the perversion of nature. This highlights the evil and immoral side, they possess. Shakespeare, however, presented Lady Macbeth and the witches to be manipulative and cunning, rather than violent like Macbeth was during the play.
Have you ever felt constricted by society 's views on gender? Lady Macbeth used her avaricious and imperious personality to come off as a manly figure. Although she wanted to pursue power, she faced various limitations because of her gender. Her resolution was to use other people to make her way up to the top.
Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is Macbeth´s wife. At the beginning of the play, she has a female traditional role, but when the plot starts to develop, she changes it. Thus, whenever it suits her she adapts a masculine role. She is shown as instigator in Macbeth´s downfall, inciting him to do the wrong things, and in some situations, she is thought to be a representation of evil. Lady Macbeth is very ambitious, and she “wants” to be a man, because men are supposed to be cruel.
Lady Macbeth really defies the stereotypical gender roles women play in that time period. She calls, “unsex me here.” She is calling to be stripped of her feminine weakness and become more manly. Her gender contributes to making her even more deceptive. This violent woman does not only conceal herself but also Macbeth’s true personality.
Celia Beyers Tinti Period 1/5 12 April 2015 Literary Analysis: Macbeth In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he presents the character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is shown, as a character that schemes into making rebellious plots. She reveals the desire for wanting to lose her feminine qualities in order to be able to gain more masculine ones.