Macbeth Gender lens


In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth personality is shaped from defying certain stereotypical gender roles to provoke an emotional response in the reader.


add video here and some compare/contrast facts


This is derived from how Shakespeare views societal gender roles during 1606 and his use of imagery. One such example is Lady Macbeth’s lecture of Macbeth decision to not seize the throne and kill King Duncan. when she says, “How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me./I would, while it was smiling in my face,/Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/Have done to this“ (Shakespeare). This sections shows that Lady Macbeth is extremely determined to seize the throne, to the point that she would be capable of killing her own child. In fact, it is using the contrast between violence and the softness of a mother to creating this image. Throughout the scene, Lady Macbeth’s core principle of an iron will is shown through drawing contrast from Shakespeare expecting to the reader have the idea of a woman being overly emotional and weak.

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