Lady Macbeth: Breaking Stereotypes

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Women: are they truly subordinates to men? Unlike many of his other plays where the female roles are portrayed as weak and helpless individuals inferior to men, a new character merges. Lady Macbeth reveals that women are equivalent to men; even superior in some cases. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the audience is introduced to Lady Macbeth who opposes the stereotypical woman and leads the mediocre Macbeth into darkness. However, since Lady Macbeth is ravenous for power, uses manipulative tactics, and femininity, she has led herself to her disappointing demise.

In the beginning, Lady Macbeth appears as a calm, gentle person, but later reveals her true nature to be a demon behind a mask. She desires the power of queen and is willing to use any means to get hold of it. Lady Macbeth calls to the spirits asking to “fill [her] from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty…[to] stop the access and passage to remorse,” (I, v, 45-47) so she is able to live without pestering thoughts from her conscience. Between her and Macbeth, she believes that she is the stronger of the two. T...

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