FREE ESSAY ON SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH

SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH

Shireen Owlia
Ms. Fisher
English IV - 5
14 November 2001
A Woman Before Her Time
During the Elizabethan era, a woman did not have any say in the relationship with her
husband, but Shakespeare's Macbeth changes this accepted theory. Lady Macbeth is a woman
ahead of her time; she is caught between today's ambitious, powerful woman and a fragile,
powerless creature of the Elizabethan era. At the beginning of this tragedy, she is
vicious, overly ambitious, without conscience, and willing to do whatever it takes to get
what she wants. As Macbeth becomes less dependent on his wife, Lady Macbeth loses control
of her husband, but mostly of herself. She is so wrapped up in the greedy world
Shakespeare creates that she fails to consider the consequences of her actions more
realistically. Lady Macbeth lives as if she is a woman ahead of her tiime, but she dies
like she is from the "golden age of drama". 
Initially, Lady Macbeth is introduced as a dominant, controlling, heartless wife with the
ambition to achieve kingship for her husband. These words are characteristics of today's
woman. She does not let her husband run her life, but instead, a modern woman seeks the
best for both herself and her husband. This weak, unsure, and unstable condition of Lady
Macbeth, which is only revealed towards the end of the play, displays the characteristics
of a woman from the Elizabethan times. However, the audience begins to see hints of this
hidden nature by the way Macbeth addresses her. 
The first time Lady Macbeth appears on stage, she is reading Macbeth's letter, which
shows her desire to become Queen of Scotland. Lady Macbeth reads, "This have I thought
good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightst not lose the
dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee" (I.5.10-13).
This portion of her husband's letter shows she has trained him to report the important
events that occur while he is away. At this moment, she decides that quick action will be
the basis of her reasoning and planning. Her spur-of-the-moment orders will affect
Macbeth so deeply that his character will be forever changed. Lady Macbeth intentionally
tries to ignore consequence and concentrates on securing Macbeth's future as king of
Scotland. She looks to the quickest way as one that may lack rationality, but shortens
their path to the throne. Lady Macbeth has been the authority icon for Macbeth, yet deep
down, she never carried such traits to begin with. 
Because Lady Macbeth is a woman, she does not have the strength in her female heart, body
or mind to carry out the deed of killing the King. Therefore, she calls upon the aid of
the supernatural to give her male powers, so that she may have the audacity to go through
with the plan to murder the King and allow Macbeth to obtain the throne. "Women have
always been considered as the gentler and fair sex. Lady Macbeth feels that to commit
this crime, she must become as cruel as she believes men are. She calls for the spirits
to unsex her, so she may act as a man would" (Lenz, 238). Although Lady Macbeth is
unstable and vulnerable at the end of Act I, she uses dramatic analogies to persuade her
husband to follow through with the first murder: "I have given suck, and know how tender
'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have
pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as
you have done to this (I.7.54-59). By hearing a woman who seems to be fearless of his
anxieties, Macbeth is soothed. Lady Macbeth knows her husband is a strong person, and she
knows she must seem stronger in order to convince him to go along with her plans. Lady
Macbeth imagines that she has the ability to hide her true emotions, though her mind is
as frail as an "egg". She claims that she can act to look like a flower that is innocent,
but be a serpent in disguise. 
After the murder is plotted between the two, Duncan decides to make a surprise appearance
at Macbeth's house. Lady Macbeth tells her husband to put the "great business into [her]
dispatch" (I.5.67). This shows she takes charge and covers for Macbeth, who is
defenseless to the overbearing tension residing in himself (Williamson, 163). As the
situation escalates, Lady Macbeth tries to soothe him by explaining that "things without
remedy should be without regard: What's done is done" (III.2.11-12). She has changed her
technique with Macbeth from shock and intimidation to restraint. She says, "You must
leave this" (III.2.36), which sounds calming and unworried. "[Her] control over Macbeth
has waned, and over herself, her control is dwindling as each second passes. The fire she
once had, which drove Macbeth forward is now no more than a minute spark" (Barker, 126).
She is beginning to lose that controlling stiffness. She asks Macbeth, "what's to be
done" (III.2.44), which is a drastic change in control. "She doesn't voice any opinions
or plans of any sort for the rest of the play. Lady Macbeth is now in awe of Macbeth,
contrast to when [he] was in awe of Lady Macbeth's infanticide analogy" (Barker 126). 
Lady Macbeth's seemingly male actions are replaced at this point in the play and she is
wrought by guilt. She suffers from a mental and emotional breakdown as a result of this
guilt. She is emotionally exhausted and becomes the typical fragile flower. We first see
this side of her when she states that she cannot kill Duncan because had he not resembled
my father as he slept, I had done't (II.2.16-7). After Duncan's murder, the roles of
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are reversed. Previously, she was the main motivator in the plan
to overthrow the kingdom; she was "the one who wore the pants". Following Duncan's death,
she breaks down and Macbeth becomes powerful and tyrannical. Macbeth gets all the
inclination and she gets the guilt. On the night of Duncan's murder, Lady Macbeth instead
of her husband grows fearful. Although it is Macbeth who sees visions of the dagger, Lady
Macbeth falls ill of a mental disorder. "It is he who hears the cry in the house: 'Sleep
no more! Macbeth does murder sleep' . . . and so 'Macbeth shall sleep no more'; but it is
not heard the he slept no more" (Williamson 164). While the Queen rises from her bed and
talks in her sleep, she betrays her guilt; but, it is Macbeth who stands helpless with
bloody hands. When Lady Macbeth comforts him, she ends up being the one who says, "Out,
damned spot! Out, I say!" (V.1.31). Lady Macbeth is eventually driven to the point of
madness.
Lady Macbeth was under a great deal of pressure, being a powerful and ambitious woman at
a time when she would have been criticized and possibly even accused of being in league
with the supernatural. Her problem was that she separated male and female
characteristics. This separation of herself caused her breakdown. In today's society, it
is acceptable for males and females to display qualities that in Lady Macbeth's day would
be seen as solely masculine or feminine. When Macbeth seized her power (after Duncan's
murder), she was left alone with her guilt and fears. She committed the evil act because
she was a woman, even though she had to sacrifice her womanliness to do it. She was
trapped between then, when men did not display feelings and women had no power, and
today, when men and women are equal. Lady Macbeth is a powerful character who goes from a
rise to power to a fall of mental illness brought on by guilt. She was caught between two
time periods, that of the Elizabethan era and modern day.