Term Paper on Lady Macbeth

Term Paper On Lady Macbeth

William Shakespeare created a dynamic character called lady Macbeth; she was the total opposite of what women of the Shakespearian era were supposed to be. Despite qualities women were supposed to have in Shakespeare's time, Lady Macbeth defied the way most women of her time acted. Lady Macbeth defied the ways of women of her time by being manipulative, ambitious, and ruthless.

Women's lifestyles back in Shakespeare's time period was very different from the modern day women's lifestyles of today. The characteristics for women of that time was that women should be uneducated, should follow chastity, take care of the home and should not join a profession or get a job. Most women were denied the chance to be schooled beyond the basics of simple reading and very little writing. Some women of the upper class were schooled but they were not looked upon as educated women but were instead welcomed to the company of men. Women would not be able to enter professions because of the lack of education and the fact that they were women. For the poor women their work was spinning and weaving. The best job that they could get was to be an overworked nurse. The only real profession that women at this time could get into was marriage. In marriage women were expected to only take care of the home and anything that would benefit the home. When entering marriage women were further endorsed by the law. The law said that when entering marriage women became property of the men and all their belongings were the mans property now and the man could do whatever he wanted with these belongings such as selling them. A woman was generally fail and soft, which proved their overall weakness. A good woman of that time was supposed to be practice obedience, patience, chastity, modesty, and virtue. Women who didn't live up to these expectations were considered to be "bad women". During their free time Elizabethan women would sing, dance, and write letters. (Papp and Kirkland)

Lady Macbeth defied many if not all the ways of women of the time period. She was very ambitious in achieving her goals. Lady Macbeth took charge in the murder of Duncan. Macbeth was in shock when he killed Duncan and Lady Macbeth said to Macbeth:

My hands are of your color, but I shame

To wear a heart so white. [Knocking within.] I hear knocking

At the south entry: --retire we to our chamber.

A little water clears us of this deed:

How easy is it then! Your constancy

Hath left you unattended. -- [Knocking within.] Hark, more

knocking: Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us

And show us to be watchers: --be not lost

So poorly in your thoughts.

(II, i, 146-155).

Their nerves are raw, every noise seems like an explosion to them. Starring at his bloody hands, Macbeth at last recognizes that the murder is no longer an abstract idea but an accomplished fact. This one act transforms Macbeth horribly because of Lady Macbeth's ambitious ways. Yet Macbeth soon becomes accustomed to his new identity and killing doesn't mean that much to him any more because he has already "murdered" sleep. (Epstain)

Shakespeare uses symbolism to convey a message in the statement made by Lady Macbeth. The blood represents a sign on what Macbeth did to Duncan and he can't get rid of the blood and he keeps on seeing the blood. Lady Macbeth doesn't really care about the entire killing and she just says that only water will clear them of what he just did. Macbeth insists that he murdered sleep along with Duncan and Lady Macbeth has no problem going to sleep at night. Lady Macbeth persuaded Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill her own ambitious ways because she wanted to be the queen. Lady Macbeth "...(is) but a victim of a pathological mental dissociation arising upon an unstable, day dreaming basis, and is due to the emotional shocks of her past experiences. Lady Macbeth is a typical case of hysteria; her ambition is merely a sublimation of a repressed sexual impulse, the desire for a child based upon the memory of a child long since dead."(Coriat) Lady Macbeth is very ambitious but only because of an unnatural urge caused by hysteria.

Lady Macbeth also shows that she is ruthless, cold hearted and vicious. Lady Macbeth shows that she is very vicious throughout the play. In act I scene V William Shakespeares' Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't."(Macbeth, 71-72) This shows how sneaky and vicious Lady Macbeth really is to achieving her goals. Lady Macbeth really only looks out for herself and doesn't care what the consequence is for what she strives for. Lady Macbeth Says:

I have given suck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that miles me:

I