Shakespeare II
Professor Mulready
23 April 2012
Lady Macbeth
In many of Shakespeare's
plays, women play a big role. However, usually, the women do not play
the stereotypical role. Portia, Kate and Lady Macbeth do not fade behind their husbands but instead take control. Lady Macbeth, like Portia and Kate, is no
different. She plays the stereotypical role to everyone except her
husband. Macduff refers to her as “gentle lady” (2597.79).
Macduff believes that Lady Macbeth is so gentle and good that she
should not even hear about the murder. “Tis not for you to hear
what I can speak/ The repetition in a woman's ear/ Would murder as it
fell”(2597.80-83). The reality is, at this point, she is the most
evil and vindictive character in the play. She is even scarier than the Witches. While the idea to kill
Duncan was already in Macbeth's head when the Weird Sisters spoke the
prophecy, Lady Macbeth coerced him into it. Macbeth is a moral
person. He knows the king trusts him because he promoted him to Thane
of Cawdor. The last thane betrayed the king so it is a huge honor for
Macbeth to be the new thane. Macbeth is supposed to protect the king
from harm. The king is not evil or bad. He is well liked and
protected. There is no moral reason to kill the king other than
Macbeth's need for power to fulfill the prophecy. However, when it
seems that Macbeth is questioning his plot to kill the king, Lady
Macbeth forces her plan on him. She insists on killing the king.
Lady Macbeth manipulates
her husband. Macbeth is a moral thane and Lady Macbeth acts as if
this is news to her. She asks where all the guilt came from. She
calls him a “coward” (2590.43). She really goes under his skin.
She even tells him that he “would/ Be so much more the man”
(2590.50-51). She is a very ambitious woman and will not accept
failure or doubt. When Macbeth is overcome after killing Duncan, Lady
Macbeth takes the king's blood onto her hands and finishes the job by
setting up the guards. There is no doubt that Lady Macbeth is not
squeamish and very convincing. The question is where does Lady
Macbeth's loyalty lie? Her loyalty definitely does not lie with the
king. As soon as her husband got a promotion, she aimed to take him
out. However, does that mean that she will want to take out her own
husband to gain power? Or, if another man came along and accumulated
power, would she align herself with him to kill her husband? Based on
her actions, Lady Macbeth loves blood and power. Her family and
servants are disposable. Lady Macbeth follows Shakespeare's list of
powerful women, however, her future is unclear. Macbeth is a tragedy.
Will she be the one to cause the tragedy or fall to it?
3 comments:
I thought it was interesting also when Macduff believes that Lady Macbeth is a gentle person who death shouldn't be talked about in front of her. When in reality she is the mastermind behind the killing of Duncan. Not only Macbeth wants to feel power and be in control, but his wife also wants to do that and it's strange to see a female take on that role. We've seen in King Lear, when Lear's daughters wanted to control the kingdom and have power, but somehow this is different because you don't really see a wife having so much influence over her husband.
I really appreciate your attention to Lady Macbeth's duplicity, Sam. It's not often noted that she is a successful actor (as are many of Shakespeare's villains!) and that she achieves her evil ends through deceit.
I wonder about one thing you wrote--how moral is Macbeth? It's true that Lady Macbeth is pretty coercive, but it doesn't seem that he needs to hard of a push, does it? I ask because it raises a central question in the play. How much of Macbeth's action is his own, and how much should be attributed to outside forces?
Interesting read! I thought it was important how you pointed out that Macbeth was an honest man and Lady Macbeth was the one more prone to evil. I totally agree with you and in their relationship we can also see how evil overcame good as Macbeth's honest and good nature turned evil with the assistance of his wife. This represents not only the battle between good and evil but also the battle within Macbeth himself. For Macbeth he fights his consciousness with the overpowering desire and greed for wealth and power against the "right" thing to do.
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