![]() Lady Macbeth’s sheer persuasiveness also shows her power and her manipulative nature, leading her to eventually successfully convince Macbeth to murder Duncan. To some extent, the Witches and Lady Macbeth both show the danger of womanhood being corrupted by evil. This view is later rejected by Malcolm and Macduff. Moreover, Lady Macbeth says “unsex me” and “ here/ And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty!’ This shows her misunderstanding of masculinity - she views it as something which is cruel and ruthless. For the witches, this shows their corruption of the natural world, yet Lady Macbeth’s masculinity shows her cruelty - though she too will corrupt the world by murdering Duncan. The witches are described by Banquo as “you should be women,/ And yet your beards forbid me to interpret/ That you are so.” This shows that they initially appear female, yet are corrupted by masculinity. Lady Macbeth can thus be linked with the three witches in the play because they both show their brutality and their genders are not clear. ![]() To some degree by killing Duncan, Macbeth becomes more masculine to Lady Macbeth, even though he becomes increasingly cowardly. The lack of Macbeth’s masculinity and Lady Macbeth’s own lack of femininity may go some way towards explaining why the two have no children - Lady Macbeth is too brutal a woman to be granted children, symbols of innocence in the play. However, his inability to fulfil his ambitions makes him un-masculine in Lady Macbeth’s eyes. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is definitely strong and brutal - see the description of Macbeth killing an enemy soldier. She believes that masculinity is brutality, cruelty and ambition. By relating milk (a feminine product) to kindness, Lady Macbeth reveals that she does not believe that kindness is a masculine quality. She repeatedly emasculates Macbeth, telling him that he is ‘too full of the milk of human kindness’. Ideas of masculinity vs femininity are seen repeatedly through Lady Macbeth’s taunting of Macbeth. When Macbeth arrives and greets her, she is angry and disappointed in his lack of motivation to kill Duncan, which shows Lady Macbeth’s unusual cruelty. Yet at other times, Lady Macbeth defies this, opening the play by demonstrating her power, calling Dunsinane her ‘battlements’, and trying to persuade Macbeth to perform the heretical and violent action of murdering the King. Lady Macbeth at times plays up to this stereotype, for example, fainting when Macbeth is getting himself into trouble. For example, Macduff refers to Lady Macbeth as ‘gentle Lady’. The traditional view of femininity at the time would have been that women are gentle, weak and submissive to their husbands. ![]() Disturbing anti-femininity and her rant about wanting to murder a child. Are you struggling to keep up with your English Literature Coursework? Do you need detailed, customized English Literature Notes to help you better understand the texts you’re studying? “Look no further! Our customized paid notes will help you achieve your study goals quickly.Lady Macbeth first appears when she reads the letter Macbeth sends ahead in the first Act, telling her of the witches’ prophecies and of Duncan’s imminent arrival in Dunsinane. She is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare’s most memorable and fascinating female characters. Thus, Lady Macbeth is one of the major characters of the play ‘Macbeth’. It is a mistake to call her the “fourth width” in Macbeth. To have had so much blood in him?” Not Human Monster She recalls the event and shader at its very thought – Every scene of murder has gone deep into her mind and heart. Her feminine nature fully possesses her in the sleepwalking scene. She can wholly discard her feminine weakness in spite of her devilish will and unwavering determination. Yet she is essentially a woman possessing the essential feminine nature. “A little water clears up of this deed how easy is it the” Her feminine Nature When Macbeth dreads his filthy hands she says:
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