1) Feminist reading of lady Macbeth
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. The Tragedie of Macbeth is a tragic drama by William Shakespeare. In this play Lady Macbeth is strong, ruthless and ambitious. Who suggests to Macbeth that they should kill Duncan in order to make the witches' prophecy come true. Macbeth is a play that seeks to understand morality, especially how it relates to healthy and unhealthy expression of gender.
Feminism is a movement seeks equality for all people and elimination of classical ideas about gender.feminism is the belief in full social, economic, and political equality for women. so many feminist gave their views on character of lady Macbeth.
A psychoanalytic and feminist look into one of literatures most famous women.
From the very beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is shown as a character that is relents in creating rebellious plots. According to Lois Tyson, "women invest themselves in the accomplishment of their husband and son. "Another female character in Macbeth, Lady Macduff does not connect some evil plot because she invests all of her intellectual power into the achievements of her husband and children.
On the other hand, Lady Macbeth, not as bound to domestic duties as Lady Macduff, sharpens her intellectual capabilities for her own use. While intelligence from a male character would be seen as a beneficial trait, patriarchy defines Lady Macbeth’s intelligence as a flaw and as an indicator that she is unnatural and “unfulfilled” as a woman. Lady Macbeth shown to be leader as it is her ambition that is the driving force behind the murder plot and her husband's action. She had the strength to go through with the plan to kill King Duncan and holds it together for both she and Macbeth after the murder is complete.
Finally, in Elizabethan England get the idea that women could be capable of such evil wrongdoing would have been inconceivable. The fact that Lady Macbeth had murderous thoughts makes her equal to the man she was surrounded by. It is through these points that Lady Macbeth's character can be both vilified and explored as a feminist role model. A popular speculation on why the oppression of women is not more commonly recognized than the oppression of certain ethnic and religious groups, is that "women's allegiance to men from their own background always supersedes their allegiance to women from different classes."While certain social and economic factors separate people from different walks of life, within these groups womens are always separated from each other.
Feminist theory looks at the power relations within a text, so in order to understand lady Macbeth's character and her eventual demise, we must first examine that dynamic between her and her husband, and the extent to which they adhere to traditional gender roles within their relationship. Such roles entail the assumption that men are brave, commanding and determined while women are warm, nurturing and subservient. The play is established in the first act: Lady Macbeth sees it as her husband's manly duty to elevate their status and improve their lives by killing Duncan, but has some doubts. Thus, Lady Macbeth claims, "when you durst do it, then you were a man."
Patriarchal society encourages Lady Macbeth to invest herself in the role of mother. Lady Macbeth is seen as selfish and abnormal when she confesses that there is a situation in which she would
"Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this"
Her statement about her own child was a very unnatural statement according to patriarchy's belief that women's desire to have and protect children is a part 'their natural biological makeup'. Though intelligent and strong at the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is reduced to an insignificant person haunted by nightmares and guilt as a result of a patriarchal portrayal of her gender. According to previous discussion the murder of king Duncan serves as a turning point for the play: prior to this event, gender roles appear to be reversed for lady Macbeth and her husband, as she is the more dominant figure within the relationship, whereas afterwards, it is she who succumbs to guilt and eventually commits suicide despite her intial determination and pertinacity.
Soliloquy of lady Macbeth
"Thou wouldst be great art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it"
•Macbeth Historical play
A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles. A History of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth.
Macbeth the king of Scots from 1040 until his death. He ruled over the kingdom of Alba, which covered only a portion of present day Scotland.
Macbeth was the son of Findláech of Moray and may have been a grandson of Malcolm Il. In 1040, Duncan I launched an attack into Moray and was killed in action by Macbeth's troops. Macbeth succeeded him as King of Alba.
His 17-year reign was mostly peaceful, although in 1054 he was faced with an English invasion led by Seward, Earl of Northumbria, on behalf of Edward the Confessor.
Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057 by forces loyal to the future Malcolm III. He was buried on Iona, the traditional resting place of Scottish kings.
•Ambition in play Macbeth
The theme of Ambition is a universal theme because it relates to many aspects of the world. This popular theme is evident in society, popular culture, and in literature. The term “Ambition” means to aspire to achieve a goal, which requires a great amount of perseverance and dedication. In the play ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. It is the driving force of the play. Macbeth's ambition caused him to lose Lady Macbeth to suicide and to no longer have moral sense.
The weird sisters' prophecies spur both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to try to fulfill their ambition, but the witches never Make Macbeth or his wife do anything. Macbeth and his wife act on their own to fulfill their deepest desires. Macbeth, a good general and by all accounts before the action of the play, a good man, allows his ambition to overwhelm him and becomes a murdering. Lady Macbeth, once she begins to put into action the hidden thoughts of her mind is crushed by guilt. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want to be great and powerful and sacrifice their morals to achieve that goal. By contrasting these two characters with others in the Play, such as Banquo, Duncan and Macduff,who also want to be great leaders but refuse to allow ambition to come before honor, Macbeth shows how naked ambition, freed from any sort of moral or social conscience. Macbeth's true downfall is his own ambition. Lady Macbeth is as ambitious as her husband, encouraging him to commit murder to achieve their goals. Both Macbeth's fail to see how their ambition makes them cross moral lines and will lead to their downfall. Overall, Shakespeare presents ambition as something which can corrupt a character and lead to an inevitably tragic fate for them.
•Ambition in today's time:
Shakespeare was a famous writer till today. Shakespeare's works have strong themes that run through each piece. These themes are still relevant today; love, death, ambition, power. So Shakespeare's works are timeless and universal. That also makes them relatable. His plays were written a long time ago but they are based on his view of life as a whole. Of course, social factors did have some influence. For example, The Elizabethan audience believing in witches, would have gained a lot from Macbeth. These factors were never the main focus of his works, though.
There is a question: Why do we study the works of writer who died over 400 years ago? But if you take into consideration that we quote him everyday and can still relate to his characters, stories and themes, the answer becomes a lot clearer.
Some of the themes in Macbeth that are relevant today are the corruption of power, Ambition and fate. However, too much ambition has many negative impacts which we learn from Macbeth. Many people who are told they can be greater, have a surge of ambition, which causes them to become blind to reality. The ambition of succeeding this goal causes them pain in the end, just like Macbeth.
Ambition is good, it is motivation for people to do what they want but too much ambition has many negative impacts. I think Macbeth is relevant for young people in our time, mainly because it examines the idea of corruption and how easily it is led by ambition. This is very relevant for today's society because some leaders are corrupt, run a dictatorship and do not listen to their people. In our history there are so many examples: Julius Caesar of Rome, Hitler, Ala-ud-din khilji. In our time we also see politicians like Macbeth. So many people also take shortcuts to get rich overnight, because of their ambitions, Many people suffer a lot.
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