Lady Macbeth's Demise

In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the driving force behind Macbeth's murders. In order to be able to commit such horrible acts, she calls upon the spirits to "unsex" her and takes on a cruel and ruthless role. When Macbeth has second thoughts about killing Duncan, she gets upset and pushes him towards the end goal of becoming king. She even questions his manhood and everything he stands for. By the end of the play, she is overcome with guilt and commits suicide. I believe that Lady Macbeth's switch in roles goes to show the stereotypes that are ever so prevalent within literature. First, in order to summon the strength to commit a terrible act, she asks spirits to "unsex" her. She needs to lose who she is in order to go about her terrible plans. By unsexing herself, she is essentially saying that her femininity and sex appeal is everything that makes her who she is. Lady Macbeth then begins to take a slow turn into madness, she hallucinates and sleep walks. Overcome with guilt, she confesses to her crimes in her sleep then eventually kills herself. This role reversal is an example that women are seen as unstable and easily controlled by their emotions. This goes to show, that the stereotype that women are controlled by their emotions is still prevalent in literature. Lady Macbeth tried her hardest to lose who she was, yet couldn't hold herself together, and was overcome by her feminine nature.

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