This gives proof that perhaps Shakespeare was a misogynist and viewed males as the true alpha gender. Shakespeare’s misogyny is portrayed in Macbeth through The Witches as having a very masculine physique, through Lady Macduff with her small role which ends in a quick, violent death and Lady Macbeth who seems to wish she could be unsexed throughout the play. The three witches are crucial to the play as they begin the prophecies which ultimately create evil ambition within Macbeth. The weird sisters each take turns stating, “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis./ All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor./ All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter. “(1.3.47-49) These three lines are extremely crucial to the play because it gives Macbeth his beginning thoughts toward receiving the throne.
We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife is flirtatious, mischievous (despite the patriarchal society of the 1930’s) but most of all she is an isolated character. Her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be failed attempt to escape her own spiral of disappointment of not fulfilling her ambition of becoming an actor. This ironically is a main theme in both texts. This essay will analyse and compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife through the structure, themes, what is said about them, their actions and what they themselves say.
Also it would have been seen as being deeply unnatural because women were seen to be of a much lower status than any man. Monstrosity is also shown through Lady Macbeth when she comes across as being deceitful. For example, she says “Look like innocent flower but be the serpent unerd’t”. This biblical reference portrays Lady Macbeth to be immoral as the blasphemous remark can be seen as her devaluing religious beliefs. The monstrous language Lady Macbeth voices is demonstrated through her use of euphemisms and puns.
Lady Macbeth’s choice of lexis makes her often appear almost evil, and witch-like, emphasising her ‘fiend-like’ traits. This is especially evident in her speech when trying to persuade Macbeth to murder King Duncan. She calls upon the “spirits” to “unsex” her, in order to remove her ‘womanly’ traits that in the patriarchal society that the play was written, would have meant that she was removing her weak and vulnerable traits, and replacing them with strong and powerful ‘masculinity’, and to fill her “from the crown to the toe” with “direst cruelty.” This demonic possession would terrify an Elizabethan audience, who would have strongly believed in witchcraft and demon possession, making Lady Macbeth appear even more ‘fiend-like’ in their eyes. This devilish language also links her to the witches, with her making reference to the gothic features of “the raven” and “spirits.” She is deceitful, telling Macbeth to “look like th’innocent flower, but be the Serpent under’t”, manipulating him, emphasising her parallel with
This challenges Macbeth emotionally causing him to reconsider his manhood, ‘’Prithee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man’’. Lady Macbeth would have startled the audience considering that women in the Elizabethan society were seen as sub servant. Women were expected to have good manners and obey their husbands, since Lady Macbeth does have a high social status, she would be expected to be gentle and dignified. Whereas the Lady in The Laboratory has another approach to manipulating the person making her poison sexually, ‘’You may kiss me old man’’. This suggest she is using physical sexual attraction to manipulate the person because a ‘’kiss’’ is
Annabella’s claim to be a part of ‘a wretched, woeful woman’s tragedy’ offers no solace to the other women in the play as she bought her punishment on herself. To what extent does the play as a whole appear to criticise or endorse the misogynistic attitudes shown by so many of the characters? T’is Pity she’s a Whore is undoubtedly a play that can be characterised by the sexism present in it, particularly in terms of the negativity associated with female sexuality. Ford presents misogyny through women and love, women and sex and the male advancement, but what is unclear is whether or not he endorses such an attitude or criticises it. This is best encapsulated in the debate as to whether Annabella can claim to be part of a “wretched, woeful woman’s tragedy” if her mistreatment was indeed her own fault.
From this point one hears Lady Macbeth praying to devilish spirits to take away her femininity with the proclamation of: ‘…Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,…’ (Act I, Scene V, lines 39-40). With this interesting claim of needing to be of the male gender to carryout deeds of ambition and violence, Lady Macbeth is instilled as the overly theatrical and slightly disturbed personality of Macbeth. This obvious portrayal of eccentricity and
This again, throws the reader for a loop, as it seems that Macbeth and his wife have switched roles, making him seem frail and uncertain while Lady Macbeth is motivated and confident. Though she seems to posess the masculine atributes her husband lacks, Lady Macbeth does not fail to use her famine powers to get ahead. Lady Macbeth, like most women, posseses the power of manipulation. Shes uses this to convince her husband to murder. Which is somewhat typical considdering women generally use words to get a head while men are more likely to resort to violence (3).
Outline Thesis Statement The play Macbeth briefly demonstrates a significant role within the characters using quick tactics and strategies to manipulate and use super natural powers to have influence over others. Introduction paragraph Author and book- Macbeth written by William Shakespeare tragedy Interesting points- Thesis statement- The play Macbeth briefly demonstrates a significant role within the characters using quick tactics and strategies to manipulate and use super natural powers to have influence over others. Body Paragraph 1 Topic sentence- Firstly, achieving attention from a person is very complex and in order to keep it using persuasion is the best approach. Point- The character Macbeth encounters the weird sisters, who believe that if they sell their souls to the evil spirit they will
Shakespeare, however, seems to use her, and the witches, to undercut Macbeth’s idea that “undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males” (1.7.73–74). These crafty women use female methods of achieving power—that is, manipulation—to further their supposedly male ambitions. Women, the play implies, can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them the means to pursue these ambitions on their own. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections; when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove