Lady Macbeth, Fragile or Feisty?

In Macbeth, I find the part in Act 2, Scene 3, Lines 96-99 to be very interesting. At this particular part, Macduff says to Lady Macbeth, “O gentle lady / ‘Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. / The repetition in a woman’s ear / Would murder as it fell.”
Macduff says this right after he discovers that King Duncan had been killed during the night. I find it interesting to see the contrast between how the others characters see Lady Macbeth, and how she really is as a character. Macduff is treating her as a gentle woman, one who can not take bad news. He’s acting as if she is someone who must be protected from the horrors that life can bring. Its reflective of how women were and still are treated in society. Women are supposed to be dainty and fragile, and the news of a murder of the king could break them. Maduff wants to shield Lady Macbeth from the murder of Duncan, trying to keep her naive to the happenings in the kingdom, as women are supposed to serve their husbands or fathers, not get wrapped up in other things. It’s almost as if he thinks of her as weak and that she wouldn’t be able to take bad news.
This is completely different from how we know Lady Macbeth to be. Lady Macbeth seems to be the driving force behind the scenes. The puppeteer of the events to ensure her husband becomes king. We see Lady Macbeth criticising Macbeth when he tries to back out of killing Duncan, and then scolding him after the fact because he messed up. Lady Macbeth then takes matters into her own hand when she takes the bloody daggers from her husband to frame Malcolm and Donalbain for the murder of their father because Macbeth was chickening out.

If she can commit murder and treason, then go and frame someone else for the crime, that’s a far cry from a helpless, fragile woman who can’t bear to take any bad news.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 7, 2017 at 1:10 PM

    I think this is a very good point to notice how the other characters react to Lady Macbeth. Because Lady Macbeth and the other women in the play, like the Weird Sisters, are portrayed as having such significant influence over the plot and the men, it is easy to think that maybe women in this time and place were not as subordinate as we might expect. It could almost seem like maybe women having such influence and power was normal, or at least not regarded as a bad thing. But noticing how men are treating Lady Macbeth would say otherwise; that the influence that Lady Macbeth and the witches have is abnormal, as we would expect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 7, 2017 at 1:23 PM

    I think that part of the reason that line was put into the play was just to emphasize even more how unconventional Lady Macbeth is compared to other women at that time. Shakespeare makes a point with that line to illustrate how most women would be deemed too weak to hear such awful things or how women aren't important enough to know everything that's going on. Lady Macbeth denies all those stereotypes however, and proves that she's more than deserving to know. She isn't an innocent and pure woman as she "should" be; she's arguably the most evil character in the story. She's manipulative and intelligent, knowing how to get exactly what she wants. It's refreshing to see how a woman could defy every characteristic that was common for them to have in literature and even life at that time. It's exciting to be able to watch a woman have all the control and power for a change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Abbey CurranOctober 8, 2017 at 3:42 PM

    I agree that it's a very interesting point you bring up about how other characters view Lady Macbeth in contrast to who she actually is. I definitely think that the same could be true of how the other (human) female characters in the play are portrayed. As far as female characters go, Lady Macbeth is the only one who truly plays an active role throughout the entirety of the play. I have to wonder if maybe, since the other female characters are painted also tend to reflects those traditional feminine ideals, if their characters were further developed, if we would see similarities to Lady Macbeth, or at the very least, that these women were more than simply the female stereotypes of the time period.

    I think that Lady Macbeth exhibits truly admirable strength when she, in so many words, "finishes the job" of killing Duncan after Macbeth becomes too weak and fragile to finish. However, in some ways, I think that she could potentially benefit from the female ideals that she is assumed to possess. No one would ever think that a small woman would be capable of committing treason and murder, and I think her intelligence is shown through her ability to almost conform herself to those stereotypes when she's interacting in groups. While it is mildly frustrating to see other male characters belittle her, and tell her she is too weak or fragile to hear bad news, I think that her ability to play the role of "good wife" allows her to work the system in her favor, which in turn, gives her a fair amount of power.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shanaya ShahOctober 8, 2017 at 6:47 PM

    This is a great way to point out how Shakespeare portrays women in general as caring, emotional and weak. What I mentioned in my close reading was that when Lady Macbeth commits these acts of murder and treason, she is not portrayed a women at all, but someone other worldly like the witches are. However others only see how she wishes for them to see her. As this lady of the house that does not have a spine and listens to her husband because that is how ladies should be. It is also interesting how they assume her emotion state to be fragile even though Macbeth is one that is spiraling out of control in terms of his mental state. Like we talked about in class, Macbeth is not questioned once regarding his emotional stability.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What We Hunger For: Deep Thoughts

"Just because you survive something does not mean you are strong." To be completely honest, this story was one that I could almost watch in my head. Perhaps part of that was because it was written vividly with strong imagery and diction; perhaps because I could see a reflection of myself in Gay's story. This year has been a transformative one for me, as I have learned to become more self-aware and acknowledging that there is immense power in naming our struggles. I am consistently told by my friends how "strong, courageous, and unfuckwithable" I am... which, I think, genuinely stems from my inability to be comfortable. I've survived too much. I've been exposed to and made it through too much... and apparently, the fact that I managed to make it "out" of those immediate situations is seen as strong. However, I am very thankful that Gay made the comment above. To me, I've always seen strength as how people cope with the long-term effects o...
Read more

A word is a word is a word

In "Bad Feminist: Take One," Gay opens up about her inner quarrels regarding her identification as a feminist. This is something I, too struggled with. At the time, the term was gaining a less than popular connotation, with a minority of the movement taking it upon themselves to spread their isolated belief that women rise above the equilibrium of society; they are superior to men and all men are inherently awful. It is easy to understand, then, why a young girl that does not share these extreme views and stereotypes may not want to be a placed beneath a spot light during such a tense situation, and would subsequently ditch the term. Ditching the term, for me at least, did not mean that I lost my way and would slowly evolve into the submissive, modest, and good woman deemed to be the ideal. Although, ditching the term is controversial and some may see it as a betrayal to the movement executed by a ‘ bad ’ woman. If the individuals remains true to their beliefs and conti...
Read more

Fifty Shades of Fantasy

I've never been too intrigued by all the 50 Shades of Grey concept. As a social work major, reading the first book in the series and watching the first movie with my aunt (yes- my AUNT...), all I could think of when I was exposed to that plot was the lack of focus on Christian's real need and outcry for help. The novel flips the 'usual' narrative of the woman being the victim and her inability to retain a healthy relationship, and shows us a man who seeks domination and control, which- some argue- is what women *really* want. I will not be the first to argue that point. In "The Trouble With Prince Charming," Gay references 50 Shades and how the author uses a disgusting sense of erotica that we can't help but be turned on by, to romanticise the idea of pure abuse, submission, and toxicity in the text. I will commend the story on one thing: Christian is adamant about consent. Mostly because it could result in a MAJOR lawsuit against him if ever interprete...
Read more