Lady Macbeth and Issues of Gender and Power - Research Paper Example

 Introduction As the play begins, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a powerful figure and is manifestly dutiful to her husband. In addition to this, she is portrayed as being charming, attractive and extremely attractive. This would give an impression that the couple is founded on the pillar of original love. However, she is worried that her husband may take too long before he becomes the king. This is because she believes that her husband is soft hearted, kind and cannot commit brutal activities. She is determined to make her husband king in the soonest time possible even if it meant shedding blood of innocent people. Moreover, she is psyched up when she gets wind that some witches had prophesied that her husband would be king. The psyching up is meant to carry out murder so that her husband can be the next king. This article looks at some of the actions taken by Macbeth and his wife and associated outcomes. According to her speech and even thoughts, Lady Macbeth is witchy and seems dangerous. She seems to be associated with unfamiliar forces that force Macbeth to carry out deadly actions hoping to get to power. The fact that she uses the term “unsex me” during her speech makes her seem inhumane and determined to destroy lives instead of nurturing them. This is because women give birth to people who they are required to take care of and not harm them. This statement portrays her as a person who does not value the ability of women to procreate. (Laura, 2002). She asks supernatural spirits to fill her so that she would influence her husband. This would be aimed at making her husband perform a murderous action against Kind Duncan. She is inhumane because she plans to tell her husband harsh words that would facilitate Duncan’s murder. She is evil in her thoughts and even in her actions. Therefore, she would be termed as being unnatural and a person who portrays masculinity. This is because she is not soft hearted like Macbeth himself. She is heartless and self centered and driven by worldly things. She is portrayed as a person who can do anything for attainment of personal gains. In Lady Macbeth’s mind, she thinks that being a woman has prevented her from carrying out heartless activities such as murder. She for instance wishes that the spirits change her breast milk into poison. This is because she believes that having reproductive parts prevents interferes with the evil plans that are aimed at benefiting her husband. In her actions and thoughts, she portrays men and masculinity as cruelty and heartlessness. On the other hand, according to her, femininity is associated with compassion and kindness together with sympathy. Through her acts, she revives Macbeth’s masculinity that makes him commit murder by killing Duncan (Shakespeare, 2012). Her husband proposes to kill Duncan so that he would become king but was reluctant on the issue. Lady Macbeth agrees with her husband’s plans, and she was the one behind the driving force that saw King Duncan die. When Duncan arrives at his castle, Macbeth has second thoughts about killing him and is reluctant on the same issue. It is at that point that Lady Macbeth’s cruelty is brought out. Here, she is portrayed as a person who speaks on her own. In the context of, “milk of human kindness” she is implying that her husband is soft hearted just like other women. This situation is so intense that she believes that her husband may not force his way to become the king. She makes use of the idea of human kindness and persuades her husband to display her masculinity by killing king Duncan. This serves as the needed nudge that pushes her husband to murder King Duncan. She forces her husband to keep her vow to kill King Duncan. At that point she requests the evil spirits to fill her with cruelty and heartlessness so that she would participate in the murder. True to that, she assists her husband in brutally killing Duncan. She further displays her cruelty by smearing Duncan’s blood on switchblades of sleeping guards. She goes ahead to kill the guards claiming that there daggers would serve as evidence that Duncan was killed in her place. This is after her knowing that a noble man by the name Macduff had discovered the body of Duncan. Macbeth meets with the witches after killing Duncan she is assured that no harm would befall him. This is in relation to him suspecting that Macduff knows that he had killed Duncan. In addition to this, he learns that Macduff was urging Duncan’s son, Malcolm to reclaim the throne. To avoid that, she facilitates a plan that ensures that Macduff’s wife and son are murdered in revenge. These murderous activities ensure that Macbeth remains in power as the king without fear of being overthrown. His cruelty is enhanced by his wife who seems to be heartless and determined to commit murder for the sake of him to get to power. After Macbeth taking part in the killings, Lady Macbeth becomes weak, and the sense of humanity returns back to her. This would reflect a situation whereby she is drained off her supernatural powers, and she is deeply depressed. The situation above becomes so intense to the extent that her husband would no longer involve her in his plans. For instance, Macbeth murders Banquo without involving his wife. Lady Macbeth was so much affected to the extent that she even sleepwalks, talks of the murder she committed as she sleep walks and even tries to wash the invented blood on her hands. She grows so ill that the doctor says that there is nothing that can be done to her (Shakespeare, 2008). According to the doctor, the disease was beyond his knowledge and that the only solution would be divine power. She is filled with guilt because of the evils that she committed. Eventually, guilt and depression makes her loose her mind and commits suicide. Before committing suicide, she is shown as a weak figure that has been taken back to her femininity status. She is put in her place in the society, and she is no longer dominating their marriage. This is displayed when Macbeth makes his own decision as she sleepwalked. Lady Macbeth is all forgotten when she dies. In fact, her husband says that he had no time to think of her and he expected her death to occur. In this play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a manipulator and is the cause for her husband’s evil thoughts that result to murderous activities. She would also be portrayed as a devoted Queen who would do anything to get personal gain. In the end, she is portrayed as a feeble and weak figure after she has been drained off evil spirits. References Laura M., (2002). Unsex me here: Lady Macbeth and issues of gender and power in king lear and Macbeth. Wordpress.com. Retrieved on 10 March 2012 from: < http://trippy41.wordpress.com/essays/unsex-me-here-gonoril-lady-macbeth-and-issues-of-gender-and-power-in-king-lear-and-macbeth/> Shakespeare, W. & Braunmuller, A. R. (2008). Macbeth. New York: Cambridge University Press. Shakespeare, W. (2012). Lady Macbeth: character analysis. Shmoop.com Retrieved on 10 March 2012 from: < http://www.shmoop.com/macbeth/lady-macbeth.html> Read More