Gender and Power in Shakespeare's Macbeth Writing Assignment

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Gender and Power in Shakespeare’s Macbeth
The society has portrayed women as people who are dependent, powerless and dominated while men as powerful people. Women have been denied power based on the notion that are not able to maintain it because of their indecisiveness and weak nature. However, when considering women in Macbeth especially Lady Macbeth, they speak a language that is similar to the one that today women are using. It is the antilanguage which gives them power to control, direct and dominate men in the society. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one of the environments where women have presented themselves as power and display men like characteristics. This essay introduces a statement that contradicts the views that women are powerless, dependent and dominated and portrays them as sexual objects. Most scholars have asserted that Shakespeare considered men and women to be equal in a world that rendered them unequal. In Shakespeare’s world, which was different from the one he was living in, women have the freedom of exceeding the limits posed on them by the society, either through actions or words. Therefore, it can be said that Shakespeare used to speak in a strange language that contradicted that of his own era. Shakespeare’s language demonstrate how women exercise power and how this power is structured in the society through the use of two variables, powerful and powerless. Through this, Shakespeare introduced a language that shows the structure of power in the society; dominance and dependence. The essay attempts to portray women as powerful, independent and dominating like the men. To demonstrate this, the paper will consider Shakespeare’s Macbeth by analyzing Lady Macbeth.
AGGRESSIVENESS
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears to be the most dynamic characters because she proves to be manipulative. During the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth positions herself in power by making stern decisions such as the one to murder Duncan. In order to acquire her power, Lady Macbeth does not only disown her femininity, but also rejects the idea of belonging to a particular gender. The audience is introduced to Lady Macbeth in Scene 1 Act 5 where she has just completed reading a letter from Macbeth informing her the prophecy of the witches. In her own interpretations, she knows that for Macbeth to be the King, Duncan must be killed, but she criticizes Macbeth’ abilities by saying:
Yet I do fear thy nature.
It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it (I.V, p.14-18)
From this quote, Lady Macbeth considers Macbeth to be too kind even if after the audience have been introduced to him as a fierce warrior. However, from the femininity perspective, it is Lady Macbeth who should be feeling the bonds of kind and not Macbeth because women were believed to be having some “milk of kindness in them.” This implies that Lady Macbeth equates femininity with weakness (Klein, 48). Since women were supposed to have some kindness in them, Lady Macbeth is implying that Macbeth is not capable of committing a murder because of his womanliness. However, she acknowledges that she cannot the murder herself because she is a woman who naturally possesses a high level of kindness. She persuades Macbeth to return home faster so that she can convince him to kill Duncan before he changes his mind by saying:
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valor of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round (I.V. p.24-26).
From these quote, Lady Macbeth assumes the role of an aggressor in the plot of Duncan’s murder due to the fact she has already made her mind to convince Macbeth to accept the prophecy of the witches. The phrase “with the valor of my tongue” is important because it portrays the position of Lady Macbeth in the Macbeth’s life. From this phrase, Lady Macbeth considers her words to be important. According to The Oxford English Dictionary valor is defined as, “worth or importance due to personal qualities or to rank,” as well as “the quality of mind which enables a person to face danger with boldness or firmness; courage or bravery, esp. as shown in warfare of conflict; valiancy, prowess.” Considering the words of Lady Macbeth, she implies that she is the one who occupies a higher position in the relationship and is able to face any danger.
GENDER CONFLICT
Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth appears to be blaming her gender and she is heard calling the spirits to take her gender away. She says:
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up the’access and passage of remorse (I.V., p.38-42).
From this quote, Lady Macbeth appears to be jealous of the fact it is Macbeth who will kill Duncan when she doubts his abilities of doing so. To justify her capabilities of committing murder, she calls the spirits to come and “unsex” her meaning that she is powerless because of femininity. This is the first example where she rejects her femininity purposefully in order to gain power. She goes further to say, “Come to my woman’s breasts / And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,” (I.V. 45-46). By the use of the term “gall”, Lady Macbeth is asking the spirits to fill her with poison and take the milk which she equates with kindness. With the replacement of milk with poison, Lady Macbeth is exchanging her nourishment with death. Lady Macbeth thinks that what stands between her and the abilities to commit murder is womanliness.
Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth wishes that she can get rid of her association with femaleness so that she can have control over things around her. Even though the spirits did not “unsex” her, she feels being changed into a man. When they are talking about Duncan’s stay at their home, she directs Macbeth on what to do so that their plan can succeed. She tells Macbeth:
To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t (I.V, 61-64).
From this quote, Lady Macbeth directs her husband through how they will deceive Duncan so that he can become what he is not. The statement “serpent under’t” is ironic because she is protecting her femininity. She is innocent on the outside but inside she is the serpent. She is doing all these because she is a woman. She orchestrates the whole plan allowing her to gain power over Macbeth.
WAR IN MARRIGE
It is clear that Lady Macbeth perceives power from a masculine perspective. Her actions are like those of men. She abandons her femininity so that she can control the events around her. She manages to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan by pouring the spirits into his ears and through her important words of her tongue, which are like liquor, Macbeth becomes drunk and is separated from his actions. She drugs Duncan with wine and prepares one fo...