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Macbeth and hamlet characters compared
Macbeth and hamlet characters compared
Patriarchal society and its effects on women
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Right after that speech, their father Polonio arrived and also gave Ofelia advices about her relationship with Hamlet, talking about preserving the honor as his daughter, and not to trust in his promises. He finished his speech giving order to her not talking with Hamlet anymore, which she accepted in an obedient and submissive way.
At the same way Ofelia is controlled by her brother and father, she is like an object through Hamlet´s wishes. In the Act III, Scene I, Hamlet declined their marriage and, in a rude way, told her to marry with another man or go to a nunnery, the only possibilities for a woman of that male society:
In another scene, when a play was staged in the castle, Hamlet approached Ofelia in a vulgar behavior, referring to
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Her suicide is the consequence of all oppression situations she passed through, when she had no active voice as in a female condition. On the other hand, it was the first time she broke that submission and decided about the only thing she had power, her life. In this sense, Ofelia made a transgressor act against the values of the society she lived, and relieved herself the only possible way for a woman to escape to the control of men, in that historical time.
The same way as the Queen in Hamlet has an important role in policy, Lady Macbeth, in The Tragedy of Macbeth, has also influenced the government. But, in terms of personality, Macbeth´s wife is the opposite of Hamlet´s women, specially Ofelia. Instead of the sweet and submissive behavior of Ofelia, Lady Macbeth does not follow what is expected by a woman in Elizabeth´s age society, otherwise, she thinks by herself, has active voice and decides her own acts, and not just reacts male decisions.
Differently of Ofelia and Gertrudes, that were manipulated by their husband and boyfriend, Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth to commit the king´s murder to become king and, in its turn, she become queen also. Lady Macbeth planned the murder and taught her husband to act in a dissimulated way to deceive the
One of the most emotional and moving scenes in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet is in Act III, Scene I lines 90-155 in which the title character becomes somewhat abusive toward his once loved girlfriend Ophelia. It is interesting to examine the possible motives behind Hamlet's blatant harshness in this "Get the to a nunnery" scene toward the easily manipulated and mild mannered girl. While watching Kenneth Branagh and Mel Gibson's film adaptations of the play, the audience may recognize two possibilities of the many that may exist which may explain the Prince's contemptible behavior; Kenneth Branaugh seems to suggest that this display of animosity will help the troubled man convince his enemies that he is in fact demented, whereas the Mel Gibson work may infer that Hamlet's repressed anger toward his mother causes him to "vent" his frustrations upon Ophelia, the other female of importance in his life.
Lady Macbeth was “choked with ambition”. Her infatuation to be queen is the single feature that Shakespeare developed far beyond that of her counterpart in the historical story he used as his source. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage, even though we know of his bloody deeds on the battlefield. At this point in time, with all her will converging towards seizing the throne, she has shown no signs of remorse or hesitance in her actions and hence preventing the events in the narrative from digressing away from imperative themes and climaxes of the play.
In the Elizabethan era, the expectations for woman were limited to being a housewife and a mother. Women were expected to obey their husbands. These expectations, and the person Lady Macbeth actually was, are polar opposites. Lady Macbeth did rely on Macbeth, but she only relied on him because she could only obtain her power through him. The methods she used to obtain this power go against the stereotypical Elizabethan woman. She used deceit to convince her husband to commit the first murder, saying that she would “chastise [him] with the valour of [her] tongue.” (I,v, 26) What convinced him to go through with the murder, however, was when Lady Macbeth laid out the plan for him. (I,vii,60-72) After the murder occurred, it was Lady Macbeth who took control, while Macbeth was extremely shaken. She returned the daggers to the chamberlains, then again insulted Macbeth, saying she would be ashamed “[t]o wear a heart so white.” (II,ii,68) She then ordered him to wash his hands, telling him, “[a] little water clears us of this deed.” (II,ii, 70) Macbeth’s inability to stand up to Lady Macbeth showed that she had complete control over him. This was not expected of an Elizabethan wife.
Leaving her only with the response saying “I shall obey, my lord”(1.3.145 ). Why Ophelia is unable to say more than a few simple words is made clear by societal expectations of the time. During this time daughters were the property of their fathers and were obligated to do their bidding. Campbell says “if she refuses Polonius, she risks social ostracism and grave insult to the man who capriciously controls her future” (58). Ophelia fears the backlash of disobeying her father, believing there is no other choice than doing what he has asked her to do. Even though a woman's virtue is a sacred and a very personal choice, her father leaves Ophelia with one option: to do what he says. “The issue of Ophelia’s chastity concerns Polonius as a parent and a politician—a virginal Ophelia has a better chance of attaining Hamlet’s hand in marriage” (Floyd-Wilson 401). This relationship Ophelia has between her father is very one-sided and unhealthy. It is formal and proper with very few emotions attached to each other. However, because Polonius is the only parental figure Ophelia has and loves him, his death was extremely difficult for her. Her father, hasn’t left her like Laertes and hasn’t rejected her like Hamlet. Making his unexpected death the final straw to her losing her sanity. Without someone to guide her, she is lost. She is unable to blindly follow a man but is to racked with emotion to think clearly.
Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime.
The untraditional marriage between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth shows how a woman takes charge of her marriage, showing she is the woman of the house. She is manly and all powerful over her husband. Lady Macbeth proves to be the untraditional woman of Scotland, she differs from the role of a traditional woman because she is not feminine as a woman should be, in fact she wishes she was a man. She tells the spirits to, “ unsex me here”. ( Enotes… unsex me here). This pertains to the theme of gender roles because it demonstrates how Lady Macbeth wishes it was a man. She’s manlier than her husband, that show the untraditional woman. Lady Macbeth feels her husband is to nice, friendly, and full of milk “ worrying her is to full of the milk of human kindness to take Duncan’s throne” ( Gale. Par 3). She worries that Macbeth has cold feet. He’s afraid of the consequence that will follow the murder; She planed the murder herself, because she didn’t believe he could do with out her help. She worries he is to manly to snatch the crown. So Lady Macbeth is manly enough to plan the murder, but wants Macbeth to commit the murder. ...
The switch in roles exemplifies inverted gender and social roles during their era. After Macbeth discovers the Witches’ prophecy, he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth about it. She reacts differently than one would expect a woman to act. She begins to mock Macbeth and ridicule his masculinity. By the conveyance of her speech, Lady Macbeth emphasizes that she is in charge and that Macbeth needs to follow her in order to achieve anything, as she states, “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/To catch nearest way” (1.5.16-18). Shakespeare employs the rhetorical device of a metaphor to describe Lady Macbeth’s view on Macbeth’s personality. Her comparison between him and the milk of human kindness infers that Macbeth is kind and compassionate. Lady Macbeth believes due to Macbeth’s nature, he will not have the determination to go along with the plan and its consequence. The way in which Lady Macbeth speaks is ironic seeing as Lady Macbeth is a woman and she is calling Macbeth a coward and criticizing his role as a man. In cultural stereotypes, men were known to have control over the women by making all the decisions for the household without any different perspectives. Lady Macbeth seems to embody these male-like characteristics. On the other hand, Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as a feminine male
Since the witches’ prediction about him becoming Thane of Cawdor had already come true, Macbeth felt very little desire to chase after the throne. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, wanted her husband to pursue the rank by murdering King Duncan instead of waiting to receive it. The idea that a woman, who were considered inferior and powerless compared to men during shakespeare's time, would be the responsible for such violent conflict in the play was unusual. Because she was still unsure of her thoughts, Lady Macbeth prayed that her womanly features would be removed in order to gain more, at the time, manly qualities; such as violence and ambition. “...unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the top-full of direst cruelty.” (Act I, Scene V) This decision was not an easy one, for it meant that Lady Macbeth would no longer be able to give birth to any children, thus resulting in the end of their blood line. In the spur of the moment, Lady Macbeth trusted that her decision was the best, even though she was completely blinded by her desire. She was willing to change her gentle, womanly features for those of a man’s. Once her ambition began to grow, it affected Lady Macbeth’s morals, because it allowed her believe that killing King Duncan was acceptable, since it would fulfill the witches’ prophecy. Her amount of ambition caused Lady Macbeth to not only have a troublesome introspection of her identity, but also let her conceive a heinous crime against her
As the concept of traditional female is significant in Elizabethan society, Lady Macbeth is rather contradictory as she is ambitious and takes control to persuade Macbeth. To begin, when Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth’s letter with the witches appearance and the prophesies, she realizes that her husband is weak-willed and plans to persuade him to remove any obstacles. Worth mentioning is that not only she takes control of the situation but she spurs Macbeth into murdering Duncan by saying “…When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.49). She acts out of her role as she insults his manliness and declares that she would have “dash’d the brains out” (1.7.58) her child while it was feeding at her breast. This reveals her unwomanly characteristics as Lady Macbeth do not care for her children. At the same time, Lady Macbeth overrides the source of evil as she believes in witchcraft and calls for evil spirits for help. She state...
In our society, as a rule, the man is the head of the household. However, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears to be the neck that turns the head. William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in history, but he wasn’t recognized until the nineteenth century. He wrote many plays, sonnets, plays, and narrative plays. It was during the sixteenth century that he wrote the tragedy of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth, wife to the protagonist Macbeth, is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and evil female characters. At the start of the play, Lady Macbeth is ruthless, ambitious, cruel, and manipulative; however, by the end of the play she becomes insane and helpless. The transformation of these characteristics makes Lady Macbeth a very dynamic character.
Lady Macbeth is a very loving wife to Macbeth and she wants to do anything she can for him to achieve his goals. She just takes it a little too far, and she puts too much pressure on Macbeth to commit crimes that he is not sure he wants to do. After Macbeth sends her a letter about the witches’ premonitions, Lady Macbeth is no longer the sweet innocent lady we expect her to be. She turns into a person who is just as ambitious as her husband and she wants to do whatever it takes to help him get Duncan out of the way. She even goes to the point of calling Macbeth a coward, and mocking his bravery when he fails to complete the job. She is even willing to do it herself (plant the bloody knife with the guard). Lady Macbeth is constantly putting the pressure on Macbeth to do things that he is not sure about. She almost turns into a bully who dares Macbeth to go out and do evil things. She even says in a soliloquy that she wants to be released of all her morals and values so that she can help him commit these crimes.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
The bloodbath swiftly propels Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to arrogance, madness, and death. Macbeth’s wife is a deeply ambitious woman who desires for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide.
Lady Macbeth proved to support her husband by using her strengths to make up for his weakness by consoling him during the decline of his insanity. Lady Macbeth becomes afriad that could perhaps expose their devilish doings through his acts and facial expressions. She tells him, “Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t”. It is clear that Macbeth needs support, and without insurance and control from his wife, Macbeth would have fallen apart sooner than later. Although Macbeth committed the murder, it is actually Lady Macbeth who is in control of the assassination. She assures him, “Infirm of purpose! / Give me the daggers The sleeping and the dead/ are but as
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and daunting female characters. As Macbeth’s wife, her role is very important in Macbeth’s rise and fall from royalty. In Shakespearean times, females were considered as feeble and unimportant beings whose only use was to give birth, and for their looks. They were not by any means equal to men, nor intelligent. Though in this play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the biggest impact in her husband’s life. In her role, she uses her status in Dunsinane to gain power, stay sane enough to support Macbeth, and fails while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth makes her the perfect villain for the play, mostly because of her capability to manipulate anyone that is around her.