Lady Macbeth as a Catalyst (#5)

I believe that it is nearly unanimously stated throughout the class that we think of Lady Macbeth as arguably one of the most influential and frankly, the most badass, women in the older texts that we have read about thus far. But why do we think of her so highly? When you recall back to particularly the male characters that we have previously read about, they have been described as being equally as angry and dominant as Lady Macbeth. But since she is the first strong female character that we have been introduced to, we hold her to a higher standard than the males. It is stereotypical for males to act cruel, but their actions would be classified as simply acting assertively. The typical female during this time period was expected to be dutiful, obedient, and gentle. They would always cater to their husband and their needs. Elizabethan women would never go against societal roles. Lady Macbeth completely does the opposite of this stereotype and portrays herself as being extremely outspoken and authoritative. She becomes the true personification of evil and takes on a traditional male role. Lady Macbeth even goes as far as wishing she could get rid of her femininity in Act I, Scene 5, lines 40-43, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe topful of direst cruelty!" (Shakespeare). Lady Macbeth seemingly could be trying to fit in a male role because her husband could not provide that in their relationship. It could even be argued that Lady Macbeth acted as a catalyst - speeding up the growth of Macbeth's evil side. This action would influence Macbeth to build up the courage to kill Duncan and in turn continue his power-seeking killing obsession. Even though Macbeth ends up killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth even has to go back and do more of the work herself because Macbeth did not complete the deed to her standards. I believe that throughout the text, it is interesting to see Lady Macbeth go against the natural order and rise as an influential, strong, female power especially in texts from this time period.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 8, 2017 at 9:11 AM

    I agree it is very interesting to female like Lady Macbeth take the lead in this book. Lady Macbeth really takes charge in convincing her husband to kill Duncan so that way her can rule. She really tries to attack at Macbeth´s masculinity and hit him where it hurts because she calls him a coward and a spineless man but that is what she had to do in order for him to commit the crime. I feel Lady Macbeth has to take charge because she is trying to be a good and supportive wife by standing by her husband and giving advice for him to succeed. I feel like Lady Macbeth is a good wife but with messed up mind.

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  2. Raquel GorresOctober 9, 2017 at 9:10 PM

    I agree that Lady Macbeth was a strong female character. I also love the point you said that this is because she’s the first woman we’ve seen not tending to her husband's every move. As we saw in Beowulf, all of the women with power obeyed their husbands commands and sat back in what was considered the “woman's place.” One thing I don’t agree with is that she was the first strong female character e’vebeen introduced to. Many of the women in Bitch Planet could be classified as strong female characters.

    Like lady Macbeth, though, they fought for themselves, and didn’t just sit back and listen to what the men told them. They took matters into their hands and made sure that things got done

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