A study of Shakespeares presentation of women in Macbeth. Essay

A study of Shakespeare's presentation of women in Macbeth. Shakespeare has portrayed women to be mentally strong to the extent that they are able to speak their minds and show that they have aspirations. In my opinion women are shown with an inner strength that men lack as well as a connection to the dark and evil side of life. What should mainly be taken into consideration is the fact that this play is set in a world mainly dominated by masculine characters. Women were seen very differently to how they are in the present day. Men and women had different roles; this is shown by the fact that all the important people such as the thanes and the King were male. The King was said to be chosen by God. The Queen of Witchcraft was Hecate, who is obviously a female character and was most probably chosen by the devil. This shows a contrast. Lady Macbeth being the main female character in the play gives us an idea of Shakespeare's personal thoughts and views of women. She is seen to be the 'strong woman behind a great leader'. She makes decisions on behalf of Macbeth and plants ideas in his head. "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here." (1.5 ll.38-40) This shows her calling evil spirits to help her with a plan to murder Duncan. This was done without consulting Macbeth, which shows that she has a lot of power in their relationship. The fact that she even calls evil spirits portrays her as a follower of witchcraft or another sinuous way of life. These were very much frowned upon during the period the play was set in aswel as during the reign of James I. Lady Macbeth asks to be 'unsexed' which could be interpreted as her having feelings that weren't meant to be experienced by women. ... ... idea about what sort of person or being Hecate is. Lady Macduff is shown as a strong-minded female character. She has a good relationship with her son as they have a conversation after Macduff's departure. Macduff's son shows her affection by adding humour in a tense situation as in Act 4 Scene 2. Later on in Act 4 Scene 3 after being warned of danger a murderer appears in Macduff's castle. The murderer fails to intimidate Lady Macduff as she keeps her head up by answering the murderer back. She and her son are then murdered. Women are shown to be strong-minded and to have connections with the other side of life, which was not thought highly of. These women are able to manipulate people in their own way. The witches trigger Macbeth to commit murder and Lady Macbeth masterminds the whole murder and reassures Macbeth that the murder is for the best.