The weaker sex?

Macbeth by Shakespeare is one of his plays that have reached a variety of ears and those who have not read the play are aware of the basic story line. This not being the first time that I have read this play was lost as to what I would want to focus my blog on, and when I re-read the first act I was once again intrigued by the vision of women that Shakespeare paints in the first Act.



If a person wanted to write a paper about the women in Shakespeare, they would be hard pressed to write the paper without involving Lady Macbeth. When we are first introduced to her, she has become aware of her husband’s promotion and is excited to see this progress but she is afraid that her husband is "too full o'th' milk of human kindness" (1.5, 15). This is an interesting line that Shakespeare has given a female character. You would assume that because she is the female she would be the one that would be full of kindness and love, but this is not the case. We see a more devious character within Lady Macbeth and she continues to shock the reader with lines such as, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (1.5, 39-40). The outright power and gall that comes from Lady Macbeth could be startling to a few readers.



Why has Shakespeare chosen to be so outright with this character, specifically the main female role. Perhaps if we look at the other female roles in the play we could be given a better understanding. Before Lady Macbeth appears to the crowd, we are introduced to three witches. We can assume them to be female even if they are seen to have beards like men. These women are not as cruel and evil as Lady Macbeth but we must remember the role that witches were given during that time period. Known as sins against Christianity, witches were not women that you would ever want to trifle with.



Perhaps this is the vision of women that Shakespeare intends to give to women within this play. Regardless of outside appearances (the beauty and poise of a queen compared to the horrid vision of a haggard witch) women have a truly dark under layer to them. Their intentions, both Lady Macbeth and the witches, are quite separate but they both have dark clouds above each of their heads.