Macbeth Feminist Essay

It is all too convenient, for a misogynist society to point the finger to Lady Macbeth as the woman responsible for Macbeth’s downfall. She is considered manipulative, mentally ill, the impetus behind the murder. As readers, however, we must remember the context of women’s roles in Shakespeare’s day. Women were not allowed on stage, so young boys played the female roles. Within this patriarchal, historical system is blatant sexism. There is also a layer of homoeroticism within the historical context of young boys playing women’s parts. It is well know that Shakespeare had male lovers in addition to his wife. Therefore, we must look at who is writing the play, just as we must look at who is directing the film, in order to deconstruct layers of meaning behind the character. Perhaps, Shakespeare intended Lady Macbeth to be a literary device to facilitate the murder of Duncan. Perhaps, it was not acceptable to have a male lover urge the killing of a king. Perhaps, it was all too convenient to make Lady Macbeth the scapegoat, fulfilling men’s fantasies of how women are, the actions they take, the role they play mirrored on stage as in their society.

The misogyny begins at the beginning of the play with the (female) witches as opposed to warlocks, spewing the prophecy, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” (I.3. 49) By calling him Thane of Cawdor, the witches are implying he will rule Cawdor and “that shalt be king hereafter!” (I.3. 50) In Shakespeare’s day, the actors were only given their sides of their lines. There were no stage directions. Therefore, we are reading through an editor’s lens (McDougal Littell) when we read, “She is determined that Macbeth will be king. However, she fears that he lacks the courage to kill Duncan. After a messenger tells her the king is coming, she calls on the powers of evil to help her do what must be done.” When looking directly at the text, Lady Macbeth asks, “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 th’ access and passage to remorse,/ That no compunctious visitings of nature/ Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between/ Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts/ And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers) (I.5 37-45) Lady Macbeth is actually asking for her emotional, feminine nature to be removed in order to replace her maternal sense with a murderous one.

In fact, if anything, Lady Macbeth cleans up the mess which Macbeth has started. “Go get some water/ And wash this filthy witness from your hand.—Why did you bring these daggers from the place?/ They must lie there. Go carry them and smear/ The sleepy grooms with blood.” (II. 3. 44-48) If it weren’t for his wife, Macbeth would have the bloody weapons of the crime scene in his possession. She also keeps it together in the banquet scene when Macbeth losses it when he sees the ghost of Banquo. “Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus/ And hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep seat./ The fit is momentary; upon a thought/ He will again be well. If much you note him/ You shall offend him and extend his passion./ Feed and regard him not.” (III. 4. 53-58) Once again, if it weren’t for his wife, Macbeth’s criminal insanity would be transparent to the entire group. But all too often, Lady Macbeth is interpreted to be the one mentally ill.

In Roman Polanski’s film, produced by Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, Lady Macbeth is naked while saying the speech, “Out, damned spot, out, I say! One. Two. Why then, ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (V. 2. 28-33) One might wonder the auteur’s choice in making Lady Macbeth a nude sexual object during the scene, but then one might also consider the source from which such a choice was made. Polanski, whose parents were killed in the Holocaust, whose pregnant wife was slaughtered by Manson’s clan in 1969, who was accused of sodomizing a 13-year-old girl in 1977 may just be a brilliant director with some deep seated issues regarding women.