In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the master mind behind her husbands evil persona. We can say that shes the one who unleashed the evil side of him and perhaps created a monster. What stuck out to me the most was how dominant Lady Macbeth was portrayed. To be a woman and receive such a powerful role can get the mind wondering so much.
In class while we were observing an image, a classmate pointed out the comparison between Eve and Lady Macbeth. I wanted to dig a little deeper into that topic, it made me wonder how come women have been given such a negative impression. In Adam and Eve, Eve was first one to bite into the forbidden fruit and tells Adam to bite into it as well. They were then considered to be the first two to commit sin.
Also, why is it wrong for women to have more courage than men? For instance Lady Macbeth’s monologue in Act 1 Scene 5, she’s practically asking the dark side to change her gender and to take her womanhood away. But why? She could be a daring person regardless of her sex.
Hi Ivette, it is true that Lady Macbeth is the one who pushed Macbeth to kill King Duncan, by taunting him of his lack of courage. Her burning ambition to become the queen is greater than her husband’s ambition to become a king. She doesn’t think about what would happen if they commit the crime, all she wants is for King Duncan to be killed so that the prophecy that Macbeth will become the king comes true. I don’t think it is wrong for women to have more courage than men, especially in our world today. We are more acceptable to the fact that women can do all the things that a man can, and can do even more. Lady Macbeth’s courage was used in a negative way in the play. We also see in the play that even she couldn’t handle what she made her husband do; she becomes mentally deranged leading her to commit suicide.
Hi, Ivette!
Interesting (and beautiful) choice of topic and lots to say about it. I’d have to agree with a.habon on the fact that it’s not necessarily ‘wrong’ for women to have more courage than men. We have to take into consideration that Shakespeare wrote this in a time much different than ours today. Back then, women were not considered as powerful or as courageous as men, something contrary to today, where we’re introduced to women fighting for their rights and feminist ideas on a daily basis. However, disagreeing with a.habon on one thought, Shakespeare does give these qualities to Lady Macbeth to show that it could be this way and it is possible (very much so!) for women to be strong. So to sum up this thought, and going back to a.habon’s second to last sentence, I don’t think her courage is shown to be a negative thing. What is shown to be wrong though, is the thing itself Lady Macbeth is going after and the way she’s going about it. Nevertheless, by putting ourselves in her shoes we can understand where she’s coming from and in the end, we’re all humans and we all have feelings. Power can get to our head sometimes. What she does is wrong and shown to be wrong but it can happen to anyone and the fact that she’s guilt ridden afterwards, to the point where she commits suicide, shows us that she has a heart after all and is not just an evil being some might perceive her to be. She loves her husband dearly and would do anything for him as well as their marriage, which (for those who have experienced love and know that one would do anything for love) can be totally explainable.
The topic of women having a powering role is refreshing because usually it is vice versa. However I don’t think it is wrong for women to have more courage than men especially with what is going on with the world today . It is always about men can only do this and better at this and etc. As for the text, reading the play , I still don’t think it is wrong, yes it was described negatively but we can’t speak for Lady Macbeth and her actions . It is easy to say what is wrong or right when we are viewing the situation from the outside instead of actually being in her footsteps.
I think women are usually looked down upon when they decide to speak up or be courageous because by doing so they are breaking out of the shell society has placed them in. It is not deeemed socially acceptable for a woman to demonstrate these qualities without the approval of man. However, it may be deemed acceptable in certain situations. I believe within the dynamic of Macbeth and lady Macbeth it is, but on a personal level. Macbeth would lose respect as a man if other men primarily found out his wife was pulling the strings. Therefore, Shakespeare only has Lady Macbeth truly speak up on private with Macbeth and no one else. If she were to make her opinion public it world have addded insult to injury for Macbeth. On top of being a traitor, he would have be less of a man as well.
Thank you all for your feedback! I do agree that the role of women has definitely changed in present time.
It’s true, Shakespeare lived in a different time era in which women didn’t have much say; and perhaps by giving such a powerful role to Lady Macbeth it sparked a flame in others.