Lady Macbeth's Role: Subverting and Reinforcing Jacobean Gender Norms

hello everybody and welcome to this analysis of lady macbeth like her husband there are multiple ways

of interpreting the character of lady macbeth in today's video i'll explore two

different ideas lady macbeth is subverting feminine stereotypes of the jacobean era

but also in a contradictory way conforming to them now there's no definitive answer to this

so why not weigh up both sides and then put a comment in the comments section letting everyone know your thoughts on

the topic first a bit of historical context about the role of women in shakespeare's time women belonged to

their fathers and then their husbands when they married they could not attend school or

university they could not purchase property they could not vote

they were not allowed on stage in plays the female roles were acted by young men and now specifically on the role of

wives wives were expected to be obedient and subservient to their husbands serving as hostess and help mate as one

critic will be looking at later puts it but we don't need a history lesson to explore attitudes to women in macbeth

the play itself contains numerous moments which tell us something on this topic

in acts 2 scene 3 macduff doesn't want to inform lady macbeth about the murder of king duncan telling her that the

repetition in a woman's ear would murder as it fell meaning that to tell this news to a

woman would kill her and this presents women as weak in particular weaker than men in act 4

scene 3 macduff states i could play the woman with mine eyes meaning he could weep like a woman

in the same scene ross says that mcduff's return to scotland would be so inspiring

it would make our women fight now up against this set of feminine stereotypes is it possible to see lady macbeth as

the complete opposite if we are to view lady macbeth as powerful as the fiend-like queen malcolm

refers to her as in the play's final scene it hangs on the interpretation that she

manipulated and otherwise reluctant macbeth into murder as elizabeth klett puts it in women in

literature reading through the lens of gender as a woman of ambition living in a

patriarchal world that allows no outlet for her intelligence she becomes motivated to seize power

through her husband if looking to evidence this point we would have to go no further than act 1 scene

5 the first time the audience meets lady macbeth and undoubtedly one of the most well-known passages in all of

shakespeare now this scene has been taught a million times so i won't spend long on it

but let's take a look at the supernatural imagery highlighted on screen

shakespeare's use of supernatural imagery with lady macbeth calling on evil spirits to fill her

might not be that shocking to us today but it was different in shakespeare's world practicing witchcraft was a crime

punishable by death in shakespeare's time and during the jacobean era king james

is estimated to have been responsible for the burning of 4 000 alleged witches in scotland

alone so when lady macbeth calls on evil spirits to fill her the audience would

be shocked at her actions she certainly doesn't seem weak or passive here when macbeth

enters she tells him he must kill the king that very night oh never shall sun that morrow sea by

act 1 scene 7 macbeth has just about talked himself out of the idea of killing king duncan

at this point in his speech however lady macbeth enters here's the stage direction this is an

interesting structural technique from shakespeare as it gives the audience a visual cue as lady macbeth walks in

macbeth has no spare no cause to murder his king except his ambition and now he enters lady macbeth macbeth

decides we will proceed no further in this business and lady macbeth destroys his resolve and all his convincing

arguments in less than 50 lines of dialogue remember this is macbeth the warrior the

fearless leader in battle and he appears to be verbally manipulated and coerced by his wife

she tackles him using a number of different techniques firstly she says he's inconsistent and changes his mind

often was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself have it slept since

secondly she uses his love for her against him saying that he obviously doesn't love her

if he won't do this from this time such i account by love thirdly lady macbeth says her husband is

no better than someone who's drunk all the time deciding things when intoxicated then

changing their mind when hung over the next day and wakes it now to look so green and

pale finally and most importantly she challenges his manhood when you durst do it

then you were a man this is the most effective attack on her husband because as we looked at in my character

analysis of macbeth his entire reputation is founded upon his bravery and courage

and lady macbeth is basically calling him the shakespearean equivalent of chicken

she calls him coward poor cat and says then you were a man until he gives him so here lady macbeth

comes across as powerful and dominant seemingly persuading her reluctant husband to kill the king

another powerful moment for lady macbeth is seen in the banquet scene in act 3 scene 4. as macbeth falls apart

in front of his guests its lady macbeth who takes control she both challenges her husband asking

him are you a man and directs the banquet guests telling them first to sit

then to speak not and finally to go at once lady macbeth is very much in charge in

this scene and her power is all the more noticeable when juxtaposed with the weakness of her

husband many people argue that shakespeare was proto-feminist

seeing as feminism as it exists today did not exist in shakespeare's time we use proto at the beginning in order

to make that distinction scholars often look at shakespeare's female characters and point to their

eloquence and strength of character concluding that shakespeare must have been sending some sort of message

about women and what he thought of them considering the restrictions that many women faced in shakespeare's time

it's certainly a persuasive argument and one that seems true of lady macbeth at this point but another way of looking

at lady macbeth is to consider her not as powerful at all could it be true that far from being a proto-feminist

shakespeare is actually depicting lady macbeth as conforming to feminine stereotypes of the era

what's so clever is that we can begin this line of analysis looking again at act 1 scene 5.

if lady macbeth is so powerful why does she need the support of the forces of darkness in order to carry out her plan

if shakespeare is presenting women as powerful why does lady macbeth need to reject her femininity

in order to do what she plans to do rather than seeing lady macbeth as powerful in this scene

we might analyze her as a subservient wife to her husband fulfilling what joan larson klein

describes in the woman's part feminist criticism of shakespeare as her wifely roles of hostess and help

mate to begin this analysis let's go back a little bit further in act 1 scene 5

to the moment when lady macbeth reads the letter from her husband in the letter to his wife macbeth hints

at his plan to kill duncan when he writes i have learned by the perfectest report

they have more in them than mortal knowledge when i burned in desire to question them further

they made themselves heir into which they vanished in other words macbeth is saying that

the witches seem to be speaking the truth about his future as king a truth which made him burn with desire

to learn more as an audience we know that macbeth is already thinking of murdering his way to the throne

in act 1 scene 4 macbeth talks in an aside about the realization that the only way

to become king now malcolm has been named as duncan's successor is to give in to his black and deep

desires and o'er leap malcolm this quotation suggests that macbeth already had murder on his mind

to dr emil fundheller writing in 1873 lady macbeth perceives her husband's murderous plan

knows he will be too weak to follow it through and decides that she must do everything she can to help him achieve

his goal because this is her role as wife to be a help mate

to her husband to fund heller this explains why lady macbeth needs to call on evil spirits and reject her

femininity to move forward feeling that a womanly nature is not at all able to accomplish a crime from

which macbeth recoils and notwithstanding resolve to fulfill the deep desire of her husband

she gives up her womanhood and does violence to her own nature for this purpose she calls upon the

hellish spirits if lady macbeth had been naturally cruel she needed not so solemnly to have

observed all pity and called on the spirits that wait on mortal thoughts to unsex her

the desire of making her husband a king makes her push head long into that abyss of crime and guilt so could it be that

rather than powerful and strong lady macbeth is simply trying to assist

her husband in achieving his goals as was expected of wives at the time to joan larsen klein there are lots of

moments when lady macbeth acts as help mate to her husband it is lady macbeth's idea to get duncan's

grooms drunk with wine and wasale in act 1 scene 7. it is lady macbeth who unlocks duncan's door ready for the

murder telling us that the doors are open in act 2 scene 2.

it is lady macbeth who gets the daggers ready it's lady macbeth who tells macbeth to wash this filthy witness from

your hand it's lady macbeth who takes the daggers back to plant them on the guards

it's lady macbeth who tells macbeth to get on your nightgown clearly lady macbeth's role in the

murder of king duncan is significant but does she instigate it persuading and manipulating her reluctant husband to

commit regicide or does she simply assist him in his plans as the good

helpmate wife of the era whatever you believe there is no doubt that lady macbeth's

power and influence diminishes after duncan is killed joan larson klein writes

as soon as duncan's murder is a public fact lady macbeth begins to lose her place in society and her position at

home she does so because there is no room for her in the exclusively male world of

treason and revenge after macbeth becomes king he the man so fully commands lady macbeth that he

allows her no share in his new business no longer his accomplice she loses her role as housekeeper

macbeth plans the next feast not lady macbeth it is macbeth who invites banquo to it

not lady macbeth who had welcomed duncan to inverness by herself and we know this if we look at act 1

scene 6 when macbeth is already at the castle it's nevertheless lady macbeth who

greets the king when he arrives macbeth isn't even in the scene as we know from the macbeth revision song

macbeth does not tell his wife about his plans for banquo dismissing her with the condescending

be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck in act 3 scene 2. after the banquet scene lainey macbeth

appears only once more on stage suffering a breakdown and later off stage committing suicide

and why does the suicide take place off stage perhaps shakespeare didn't want the audience to be thinking too much

about this character feeling that she could be a distraction from the main action unfolding on stage

we can see shakespeare's portrayal of lady macbeth in one sense as subverting feminine stereotypes of the jacobean era

but also in a contradictory way reaffirming them now as i said there are numerous ways of

interpreting the character of lady macbeth and in this video i've looked at just

two of them for more on lady macbeth pick up mr brosk's guidance beth which is linked in the description

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