Similarities Between Lady Macbeth And Curley's Wife

Compare Lady Macbeth to Curley’s Wife and suggest ideas about the society at that time according to these characters.

Discrimination against women has been widespread throughout all periods of times, They have been viewed as sex objects and property of their husbands. Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife are prime examples of this because their names were not revealed but they were polar opposites to the average women in their times.

‘Of mice and men’ written by John Steinbeck in 1930s. The character of Curley’s wife demonstrates what a women shouldn't be like in the society at that time. As, they should be possessed by their husbands and working housewives. The fact that she didn’t even have a name suggests that she was like a possession to her

husband, this relates to women in the society at the time suggesting that they had no identity and used to be treated badly by their husbands. Though slightly differs from the rest as she is forced by Steinbeck to seek attention as the great depression lead her being lonely because stock markets went down and everyone went back to growing crops and working in ranch. Furthermore, she was the only woman on ranch and she relies on her hopes and dreams as her persistence to explain to characters about her dreams ‘I coulda been in the movies’ suggests that she is very ambitious and a does what everyone does (dreams). So Curley’s wife is a clear character that relates to Steinbeck’s context.
In contrast to this, a play written by Shakespeare called ‘ Macbeth’ in Jacobean, England, 1606 era holds a woman called Lady Macbeth whose standards at that time should have been a religious wife and a loving mother who cares after the family though she breaks the laws of a typical woman at the time and completely differs from a women back then at society at that time.

When we first meet her in act 1 scene 5 we straight away, without hesitation, think that she is ‘evil’, ‘wicked’ and ‘temptress ‘as she plans the murder of King Duncan . In addition to this, she questions Macbeth’s masculinity she does what a woman can’t even think to do back then and is very domineering over Macbeth she is also very manipulative over Macbeth and calls him not a man. Moreover, she is full of spiral of disappointment when she finds out that Macbeth feels remorseful. She has all qualities a man would have over a woman. Similarly, both characters don’t really have any name or identity and both die towards the end. Both societies at the time were powerless, lonely, controlled and were ambitious due to the way their husband treated

them.
Curley’s wife, the female protagonist from ‘ of mice and men’ is portrayed by Steinbeck as a very sexually promiscuous and evil character as she dresses in a ‘cotton dress with red mules’ and wears ‘red lipstick’, ‘her body was thrown forward’ she is nothing but just an unhappy wife who is an avid attention seeker. Steinbeck purposely does this to hint the theme of loneliness as, like everyone, Curley’s wife needs and wants friends as she is the only woman on ranch therefore must feel lonely, to do this she seeks attention. We don’t meet Curley’s wife until halfway through the story and we are told about her by others people perspective such as Candy, Steinbeck purposely does this to create a negative impression because they call her a ‘tart’ which shows she is a dress up doll Steinbeck cleverly changes our minds completely as we feel sympathetic towards her which in turn teaches me a lesson of never judging a person through other people's perspective.
Steinbeck smartly uses pathetic fallacy at the start of the play by saying ‘for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off’ which gives me an awful impression as she is the reason the sunshine gets cut off which also foreshadows on what’s going to happen later on and hints an impression of her being the demon. My impressions changed when Steinbeck mentions ‘ and the meanness an planning were all gone’ so all the planning she did to become an actress was all gone and lost as a reward she got killed by Lennie, which makes me feel sorry for her as all her hopes are lost, it is also a pity to find out you won’t achieve your dreams. Towards the end of the story Steinbeck again uses pathetic fallacy as he states that ‘the sun streaks were high on the wall by now’ this could be seen angelic to symbolise the angels coming down to take away her soul meaning all her efforts are lost and everyone is back to square 1.
Steinbeck thinks in both ways as he calls Curley’s wife ‘sweet’ which gives me the impression of a young and innocent girl which she is but also Steinbeck thinks Curley’s wife is ‘pretty’ and ‘simple’ which contrasts to her being flirty, the word ‘simple’ gives me an impression of someone with natural beauty and dent apply of makeup to seek attention so she completely differs from how she used to be like at the beginning of the novella.

Steinbeck suggests of death as opposed to sensuality by stating that Curley’s wife’s lips were ‘parted’ meaning she was pouting even though she has died so it is hard to tell if she is alive or dead but has lost all her character’s traits. Though Curley’s wife was portrayed badly by some of the men at the ranch, Steinbeck could be targeting Curley’s wife as all the women in the novella are either presented as motherly figure such as ‘Lennie’s Aunt Clara’ or a very sexual character like the women in brothel or Curley’s wife, this could purposely be showing the stereotypical figures to inform the men to treat women as their equals.

Curley’s wife always hide her identity from people and told everyone she ‘ coulda made somethin of myself’ and uses her mum as an excuse of not achieving her dream which I think is a lie because she is trying to hide the shame that she couldn’t make anything of herself as it is a disappointment after all. This is why she always shows off her past to other men in the ranch and I suppose is the reason why men were out off

work, this also relates to the society as men didn’t often see women but when they did they were attracted such as Slim.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth presents women wickedly especially Lady Macbeth (the main female protagonist). Throughout the play she is described very dominant. Women in Tudor times were soft and kind but Shakespeare changes it with Lady Macbeth. Moreover, women in Tudor times would stop them from committing sin but Lady Macbeth goes ahead and encourages her husband into doing this (Macbeth). Lady Macbeth is portrayed as ambitious as she says ‘unsex me here’ which is very strong and powerful phrase and means she wants all her femininity to be gone so she could be more like a man so she could do what Macbeth is hesitating to do (kill King Duncan) which shows she is ready to do anything to make her ambition true. She is completely different from women in society at the time therefore gives me a negative impression also her appearance is not prominent as Shakespeare focuses more on her traits.
Furthermore, Lady Macbeth has a very persuasive tongue, by calling Macbeth not a man and questions his masculinity by saying ‘when you durst to do it you were a man’ which translates to; when you spoke to do it you were a man therefore she is persuading Macbeth. Shakespeare takes her character to a whole new level because back then men could beat their wives up if they weren’t happy but Macbeth is a coward as he stays quiet and takes in all the insults. Shakespeare implies all the negative impressions but hints a point where she can be positive because she is with Macbeth at all time as she says ‘ screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail’ which shows Lady Macbeth can be loving and caring as she is being supportive to Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth, Like Curley’s wife, dies at the end. She plays a vital role in the murder of King Duncan as she is the one who says ‘Give me the daggers’ and she states ‘I’ll glid the face of grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt’ which means she planned to frame the innocent guards. After the murder where both kill King Duncan she says a little water will clear the deed which is so ironic because she hallucinates and drives herself crazy because she starts to imagine blood on her hands. In act 5 scene 1 she looks very dramatic and is very agitated and can’t stop moving, she keeps on rubbing her hands to clear the blood but can't , she hasn’t took care of herself as she looks very scruffy and is very oblivious. Moreover, she over-exaggerates too much as she acts very unusual. This scene is very tense and dramatic which is deliberately done by Shakespeare as it is the point where Lady Macbeth dies. This scene is significant because Lady Macbeth was a superior and was worried about Macbeth giving away the truth but now she doesn’t care and is very oppose as she is inferior. In this scene she visualises, imagines and hallucinates blood. I imagined the spotlight dim and dark which I think Shakespeare has consciously done this to create another atmosphere.
Lady Macbeth alters from the society at the time and Curley’s wife because Lady Macbeth is very violent as she says if she had to she will kill her own metaphorical son violently, crushing his brains, to become the queen, she would whereas, Curley’s wife is very soft and kind, she needs to improve a lot to be on the same level as Lady Macbeth. Henceforward, Lady Macbeth is very powerful whereas on the other hand, Curley’s wife is very powerless because Lady Macbeth is dominant over her very own husband whereas Curley’s wife is abandoned by her own husband, she doesn’t get much attention therefore is very lonely. They are similar in a way too as they don’t have no identity and both are very dangerous. Curley’s wife is trouble for all the men in the ranch because if her husband sees her with the men he won’t be happy, and Lady Macbeth is dangerous because she is manipulative and will guide you into doing what is not right , which is risky thing to do as if you get caught you may get in trouble.
However, Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife both show dominance as Lady Macbeth helps in the murder, Macbeth questions ‘will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?’ and to this Lady Macbeth answers ‘A little water clears us of this deed’. This shows that Lady Macbeth is the dominant force, as Macbeth shows the signs of vulnerability, therefore his wife ( who shows signs of reassurance) automatically has more power in the relationship. Curley’s wife has a similar role to Lady Macbeth in ‘Of Mice and Men’ as when she is introduced, she makes Curley chase after her when she said she was ‘lookin for Curley’ when in fact Curley was looking for her. She is not afraid to flirt with all the men in the ranch even though she is the boss’ daughter in law. Her most notable moment of dominance is in Crook’s room as firstly she comes in the room with an excuse of ‘any you boys seen Curley’ when the boys refuse to let her in she calls them ‘bindle bums’ and threatens Crook by explaining ‘ listen nigger/ you know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’ this shows she can be a ruthless, racist character but, to only those who are inferior to her.
Both Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife could be compared to Eve from the biblical story of Adam where Eve manipulated Adam into eating the fruit of tree that God has forbidden which led to them being banished from the Gardens of Eden so they started to age, which resultantly led to death similarly, Lady Macbeth’s convincing mouth made Macbeth agree to the killing which they had to pay a terrible price of guilt whereas, Curley’s wife brought Lennie to his downfall after convincing him to feel her hair ( which he does and slowly kills her in the process).
To conclude, Lady Macbeth I would say that she is a very strong predator whereas Curley’s Wife is an easy prey to catch and she shows a few signs of a women at the society and Lady Macbeth completely differs from the society and her power is stated by Shakespeare through Macbeth as he stays quiet when she dares to question his masculinity. She is very wicked as she says ‘ look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent’, the word flower is suggested as lovely, colourful and nice whereas the word serpent gives me the connotations of evil, predator and hunter so she is telling him to hide the inner him and not to show his true colours he actually has. Crooks is used to back up the loneliness of Curley’s wife as he is also lonely because he is black and isolated by the people at ranch and all he wants is to be friends which shows he is very lonely.Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife are two dissimilar characters who give us different expressions throughout the play. Our sympathy for both characters changes according to their actions throughout the play. Despite not being the important or main characters they play a huge part in the text to make the reader have emotions. Women had traits which men disliked which showed the sexist nature of men. Moreover, both characters faced death due to messing about with another character so overall the actions of them causes us to observe them.