the women of shakespeare

Women of Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s tragedies have been assiduously studied by scholars and drama enthusiasts for centuries. A fundamental aspect that adds to the high level of praise that has been bestowed upon his plays is the role of women. Although the primary protagonists in Shakespeare’s plays were men, female characters held dominant supporting roles. For Shakespeare the roles of women served to generally control the actions of the play while the male protagonists were left to be subjected by their wild emotional swings and grandiose displays of love. These dramatic and sometimes conniving exhibits of emotion were often spoken through long soliloquys that further added to the depth of the female character. The roles of women in Shakespeare’s tragedies still prove to be enigmatic even to the most adept scholar; there motives and actions provide necessary rising actions and prove to be essential to the plot. Shakespeare’s shrewd use of assigning the ability to conjure powerful emotions in their male counterparts truly testifies to the high level of complexity and female prowess that characterize the women of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

In Macbeth, the tragedy which tells the story of a noble general turned king, the title character is repeatedly influenced by his wife Lady Macbeth; who has more ambition to be a powerful ruler than her husband does. Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, is a highly decorated warrior who courageously fights for his king, Duncan of Scotland. Macbeth is a vassal to his lord and Duncan is willing to reward Macbeth handsomely for his victories on the battlefield. Once Macbeth defeats the Norwegian army and kills Macdonwald, Duncan plans to promote him to the title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is mad...

... middle of paper ...

...d through the rising action has evolved into a polarity between the spouses because of their combative differences. Shakespeare indicates that her lack of conscience, which at one point was her greatest attribute, is slowly withering away as she begins to have visions and sleepwalk because of her guilt. The same elementary act of washing their hands of the blood that stained is no longer able to make her hands clean “what will these hands never be clean?”(5.1.49); which further proves that her conscience is beginning to eat away at her. As Macbeth begins to grow immune to his conscience Lady Macbeth grows weary of her the evil deeds she has committed , similarly when she dies Macbeth is not overcome by emotion of his “dearest partner of greatness” (1.5.13). It seems as if Macbeth had finally evolved into the man she had tried to mold him into: cold and impassive.