Lady Macbeth Gender Roles

Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, once said that “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” This meaning that most men are all talk when it comes to any kind of confrontation. But a woman is more likely to actually take action, instead of hiding behind impolite words. Gender roles and power are reversed and in flux, a leader's personality and action shows through in times of adversity. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are very much alike, however, the main difference between the two are based on their gender.

When reading the book, Macbeth, I noticed that Lady Macbeth is more powerful in the book than in the play itself. It felt as though her devious actions were more noticeable

in the book rather than in the play. That could just be the fact that in some books, it is easier to read between the lines and get a taste of who the good and the bad characters are; or maybe even some important parts in the play were taken out when making the movie. In the book, Lady Macbeth said, “Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, wherever in your sightless substances you wait on nature’s mischief” (1.5.54-57). Lady Macbeth is clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to take the throne. Her strength of purpose is contrasted with her husband's desire to shift back and forth. Macbeth is an ambitious woman, she seems to be more of a man than Macbeth himself.
While listening to the song, Almost Famous by G-Eazy, he talks about fame and how long he thinks that it will last.

This relates to Macbeth because of how Macbeth is now the King. You could ask yourself, how long do you think his kingship would last? Sooner or later people will find out that he killed the previous king to obtain his current position. In the hook, G-Eazy asks, “How long does famous last?” In the song, G-Eazy repeats it multiple times. This song is about how G-Eazy is making a serious name for himself but is not quite where he wants to be yet, he has yet to achieve everything he knows he is capable

of.
While watching the movie, Mean Girls, there is this group of girls that are fake. Fake meaning that they are untrue about who they are, and that they are extremely unkind to those around them. This connects to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in how they act as if they are the good ones in the book, pretending that they did not know what happened Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s actions are going to come back and get to her because she lies about the kind of person she is. Macbeth says, “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant there’s nothing serious in mortality” (2.3.107-109). From this, Macbeth is basically saying that now since the king is dead, nothing is worth living for anymore. With that being said, we all know that Macbeth does not mean a word he says, he obviously needed Duncan dead in order to become king, it was after all apart of his wife's plans. They all seem to be living in a world where you can’t trust anyone.
When reading the book, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, they were all competing against each other to fight for survival.

Kind of like how Macbeth is competing for kingship, but no one is really competing against Macbeth. They are given the choice to kill or not to kill, but they all have to think about doing what is best for themselves. In Macbeth, this happens to be his kingship; and in the Hunger Games, it's their lives that they care about, their lives that are on the line. In our society today, if you killed someone no matter the reason, there would and will always be some kind of consequence. Macbeth is hallucinating, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee” (2.1.44-45). This was the moment in the book where Macbeth was hallucinating, he kept envisioning a dagger. This was also the moment before he killed Banquo. Not to say that there was no consequence to killing someone back then, but I wouldn't say that the consequence is nearly as harsh as it is today. And in the Hunger Games there was no consequence in killing someone. In fact, that was the main objective of the whole

game.
Appearances and power are turned around all the time, a ruler's identity appears through in times of extreme difficulty. In my opinion this was all Lady Macbeth’s fault. But I will keep in mind that if it wasn’t for her, The book would not be what it is. Macbeth was just this soft guy who didn’t have any intentions to be King, until Lady Macbeth came along, and she set the entire story up in a way. What I think is that since Lady Macbeth is a woman, she couldn’t be Queen; so she forced her way through the “system” to insure that her husband, Macbeth, would be crowned King. In the end, everything comes back to haunt them both, resulting in their ultimate demise.