Gender Roles In Kaylah Karwan's 'Lady Macbeth'

The invited reading of Shakespeare’s ‘Lady Macbeth’ depicting gender roles
By Kaylah Karwan
William Shakespeare ‘permeates almost all aspects of our society,’ and speaks ‘to us through his plays’ by commenting ‘on his life and culture as well as our own’ (Sir George Williams University, 2000). This is no different in his acclaimed play Macbeth, which tells the story of nobleman Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth who plot and murder the king of Scotland in order to obtain the throne, exposing “human nature, ambition, evil, gender, human relationships, kingship,” (Sir George Williams University, 2000) and supernatural forces. The play explores the ideologies and cultural assumptions of witchcraft, gender roles, the great chain of being, divine
She is constructed by Shakespeare, to challenge the typical gender roles of the ‘Jacobean’ era, rebelling against the conventional ‘submissive wife’ stereotype. This presentation of her character has “attracted accusations of misogyny from critics of the time it was written because all the women in the play are manipulative and evil,” (Lady Macbeth Character Analysis , 2012). As an example, Lady Macduff simply questioned her husband going to war, and Shakespeare ‘killed her.’ For this reason, “the audience would have felt no sympathy for her and would have disliked her immediately due to her cruel ways,” (Tate, 2009). The audience of Shakespeare’s time interpreted her as one of his most infamous ‘femme fatale’” characters, and she is “the main instigator in the plot to kill the king,” (Lady Macbeth Character Analysis , 2012), as shown in this short clip. “Lady Macbeth not only subverts the idea of complete submission, but also decisively challenges her husband’s masculinity… [and ability as a lover, which would not have been taken lightly in Shakespeare’s time]" (Marotous, 2011), by saying “Art thou afeard, to be the same in thine own act and valour, As thou art in desire?” (1.7.3). These interpretations of Lady Macbeth,
Shakespeare has cleverly manipulated dark imagery into these words and the symbolism of a raven, which has been known for centuries to resemble death. “This shows the audience how Lady Macbeth is a significant and powerful character who will drive the action forward though deceiving and manipulating others for her personal gain,” (Tate, 2009). Further on in her famous invocation soliloquy, “she wants the spirits to remove from her any feminine attributes that will interfere with her plan to murder Duncan,” (Sir George Williams University, 2000) and shouts, “Unsex me here and fil me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty,”(1.5.39). These words exhibit her desire to be the opposite of the traditional, stereotypical wife and mother figure, as “she seeks to subdue her feminine characterisitcs in order to become more masculine,” (Marotous, 2011). By calling upon the spirits rather than god, her invocation aligns her with witchcraft, challenging not only gender roles, but the great chain of being as well, sealing her fate for good.They also resemble the literary device of dramatic irony, “because Macbeth, who has excelled in military prowess, is conflicted about committing murder,” (Sir George Williams University,