Women as the Greatest Source of Evil in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Women as the Greatest Source of Evil in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Shakespeare wrote Macbeth the play in 1606. It was written to

entertain the king (James 1st). The Play was preformed at Hampton

Court and James was in the audience.

King James would have enjoyed the play because it was very personal to

him. He would have been able to relate to it as it linked to his own

life in many ways. For example, in 1605 Guy Fawkes and a group of

catholic men tried to kill the king by blowing up the houses of

parliament, but Fawkes was caught and executed. This is linked to the

play, as King James would have interpreted Macbeth's treachery against

the king as a sign of the moral and divine justice of his own choice.

At this period in time plays and real life happenings that involved

treason against the king, such as Guy Fawkes caught the interest of

the general public because it was such a frowned upon and dangerously

exciting subject.

This essay is about how women are shown to be the greatest source of

evil. I will be focusing on lady Macbeth and the witches, because both

are partly responsible for the killing of king Duncan. The witches

manipulated Macbeth's thoughts and lady Macbeth manipulated his mind,

therefore they both play a key part in the killing. The Three witches

predict at the beginning of the story that Macbeth will become king,

later it's lady Macbeth who persuades him to make the witches

predictions come true by murdering the king. Macbeth is tempted by the

witch's predictions, because they echo his own thoughts. The witches

tell the truth, but because they speak in puzzling riddles Macbeth

misinterprets what they are...

... middle of paper ...

...bigger part and are more evil than Lady

Macbeth. Like Macbeth she is driven by secret ambition, which is

opened upon them by the seeds the witch's sow in Macbeth's mind. It is

the witch's that make Macbeth believe that he can become king and

deceive him in to believing him self invincible. Lady Macbeth isn't

pure evil because later on she exceeds to the stereotype of women as

she is over ridden with guilt. It is significant that she starts to

fear the dark (evil) and has to sleep with a candle next to her bed.

Lady Macbeth is driven to insanity by the guilt she upholds, she

resents evil. The candle represents a symbol of a state of innocence

and purity. Overall Shakespeare has succeeded in showing women as the

greatest source of evil this play is true to the saying 'behind every

great man there's a even greater women'.