Equality In Macbeth

The Fight Against Gender

Females in the medieval times were perceived as frail and powerless, marking a precedent for what females are or should be. This precedent of delicateness was applied to the majority of females and they would be institutionalized as such, creating a ceiling of power that was to never crack. Within the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth strives to go against this paradigm as she seeks for control and power as if she herself was a male. Macbeth challenges socially accepted gender roles through control of her male accomplices and her ferocious ambition.
Control was sparse to women in the medieval ages and was not able to be pursued under the current laws and tribulations. Lady Macbeth is able to derive her power from control of those around her and by doing so, gains power. As Alixe Bovery states in her article about women in
the medieval ages for the British Library, “Most women, even those in privileged circumstances, had little control over the direction their lives took.”. This status quo made Lady Macbeth have to utilize Macbeth’s power to upgrade herself to the top of the hierarchy. When Macbeth has second thoughts on killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth pressures him “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.”(lines 56-58, Act 1 Scene 7), Lady Macbeth’s influence is what strays her apart from the majority of her gender, she has access to a man who has the potential to take the throne and takes the opportunity without hesitance. Women were not supposed to be thirsting for power, nor were they supposed to manipulate, deceive, or kill, but Lady Macbeth fights against any guideline telling her what she can and cannot do. Lady Macbeth avidly taking advantage of Macbeth is a unique example in her total war against her sex. This manipulation is a significant part of how Lady Macbeth’s personality contracts against her gender.
Personality governs how a person thinks, feels, and works. Women at the time period were expected to have a friendly personality and to never express hostility. Lady Macbeth, however, has a vehement ambition and personality that seeks power and prestige. After the messenger exits 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.”(Act 1 Scene 5 Line 48).
Having the unmitigated grit to ask the spirits to get rid of the boundaries that surround Lady Macbeth’s gender is something that no women in this time period would ever attempt. It is this fierceness that is so prominent in Lady Macbeth’s fight against what she is supposed to be in society's eyes. The aggressiveness Lady Macbeth has can also be seen when Duncan comes over as she says “That hath made them drunk hath made me bold. What hath quenched them hath given me fire.”(Act 2 Scene 2 Line 1-2). Lady Macbeth, while others would be intoxicated, is empowered and is filled with fire. Lady Macbeth opts not to be like the rest, but to be better than the rest. She seeks ruin and anger out of things to motivate her while the majority would be pedantic and stay put. Lady Macbeth is not just going against her gender, rather, she is going against everyone who will get in her way through anger or vigilance. While society attempts to bound groups of people into their limitations and expectations, Lady Macbeth tries to go against society as a
whole. The view of women in the medieval times was nothing short of mediocre and submissive. A woman was to clean, cook, and stay at home and not strive for greater opportunities. Lady Macbeth fights through this gender ceiling by utilizing Macbeth and having a ferocious fighting spirit and personality. Through these things, Lady Macbeth rends any expectation of her into fragments, and a powerful force to acknowledge. Lady Macbeth fights against gender not because she has to but because she wants to.