Lady Macbeth Essay

Alex Clarke Ms. Vilela AP English Literature and Composition 18 March 2010 Lady Macbeth What happens when unbridled ambition, a cunning mind, and fervent sexual ardor are complicated by the gender roles of the Middle Ages? William Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, with her cruel intentions and ruthless iniquity, is one of the playwright’s most complete characters. While not cruel by nature, her longing to become Queen of Scotland drives her to convince Macbeth he must kill King Duncan. Her ambition did not act as a controlling force alone, however. The accomplice, with equal influence over her actions, is Lady Macbeth’s need to compensate for her sex. Unfortunately, being female was a veritable disability during the eleventh century. After Macbeth learns from the witches he shall become King of Scotland, he sends his wife a letter describing their prophecy. Through Lady Macbeth’s introduction (a soliloquy following reading his letter), Shakespeare reveals to his audience his “heroine’s” unwavering commitment to her husband, who she knows wants the Throne of Scotland, but, unaided, will probably lose it. Upon his return, Lady Macbeth effectively beats her uncertain husband into submission, convincing him he must murder the king in order to secure Kingship. Take into account the undeniable fact Macbeth, Thane of Cawdor must have unscrupulously eyed the king’s seat. Without the

devious wife’s emasculation of his character, though, Macbeth would have never followed through on any of his schemes. To prove himself a man to the salacious Lady Macbeth, the thane is forced to kill the king and incite a blood bath, which later has his wife questioning how one man could have so much blood. Despite a lack of physical character description, it is easy to imagine Lady Macbeth as having a tall, straight stature with flowing waves of hair and piercing eyes. Shakespeare most likely left these details out to allow the director to shape his own vision of the character. Nevertheless, Lady Macbeth’s manner of speech evokes a certain raw, animal quality, one of an unquestionably strong female nature. When she declares, “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty,” it is obvious she rejects her own identity. As deft as she is, Lady Macbeth knows she would never get any of her own power; she must have her husband become king so she can rule by his side, or even possibly through him. In everyone’s eyes, her female body parts take away from her strength. After the king is dead, Macbeth is shaking and afraid of what he has done. Lady Macbeth, resolute as always, assures him, “A little water clears us of this deed.” Again, she takes control when her husband remains in confusion. She proves herself to be the stronger of the two. As the story continues, Lady Macbeth becomes increasingly guiltridden. Even though she did not lay her hands on King Duncan, she is just as

responsible for his death. The most pivotal scene for her character is Act V, Scene I, as she sleepwalks through the castle. As she walks the castle halls, agitated, yet asleep, she mumbles a slew of expressions, most out of overwrought guilt. “Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why,/then, 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my/lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we/fear who knows it, when none can call our power/to account?” In one of the most famous stanzas of Shakespeare’s writing, the playwright reveals Lady Macbeth is not a ruthless killer, but a woman gone astray, deeply haunted by her conscience. It begins to become apparent that, perhaps, she is not simply a power hungry, devilish aristocrat, but a product of her society. Had she not been restrained to live through her husband, Lady Macbeth may have worked through other, more reasonable channels to come into power. Independent of her husband, Lady Macbeth never would have killed Duncan herself because she would be too afraid of losing her own power, had she been found out. Ambitious and hungry for power, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill the king. Her cunning, bloodthirsty nature appears to be one of no mercy as she dupes all of Scotland into thinking they are innocent. However, the audience soon sees she, too, is fallible. Falling, eventually, to a guilty conscience, it is easy to see how the social norms of Middle Age society pushed her to murder. Always one extreme or another, whether power hungry and bloodthirsty or hysterical and guilt-ridden, she serves as a foil to her far less extreme husband. Even Shakespeare puts Lady Macbeth in a

corner.