In Macbeth, Wuthering Heights, and My Last Duchess, the writers present themes of destructive love between the lovers through the desires of female characters. Therefore in this research paper there will be evidence explaining how destructive love is shown through emotional abuse, mind games, and physical abuse from the female characters towards the males. In the imaginative writings what do the women do to emotionally defile their men?
“Nor time, nor place, did then adhere, and yet you would make both: they have made themselves, and that their fitness now does unmake you.”(Macbeth 1.7.51-54) In that statement made by Lady Macbeth, it shows one of the ways she is emotionally damaging her husband. Another example is “I have given suck, and you know how tender ‘tis
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She calls the shots in their relationship for example when Heathcliff comes back Edgar wants to refuse the presence of Heathcliff because he does not like Heathcliff, but Catherine says “I know you didn’t like him, yet for my sake, you must be friends now”(Bronte 97). Then a little later Edgar and Heathcliff get into it and Edgar says something about Catherine causing her to get fired up and she yells out “Edgar, I was defending you and yours; and I wish Heathcliff may flog you sick for daring to think an evil thought of me!”(Bronte 119). She always has her ways of making Edgar give into her wants. How do the women jumble the mens heed? In Wuthering Heights Catherine messes with both Edgar and Heathcliff’s minds by telling both of them, they have broken her heart. “You and Edgar have broken my heart!”(Bronte 164). The Dukes wife in My Last Duchess plays mind games with him. As he stated himself after she died, “too soon made glad, too easily impressed; she liked whate’er”(Browning 22-24). He also states “she thanked men -- good”(Browning 31). She played mind games with him making him feel like what he gave her was never good
During the romantic period, society judges women on their beauty, something that they have no control over. This idea of beauty was pushed on young girls and this made them feel as if beauty was the only thing that’s important, but the romantic period literature was going to change that. Beauty, shown as the single most important thing for women in Northanger Abbey and A Vindication of the Rights of Women, which is wrong because it’s degrading for women to be judged on something that they can’t control, this then affects how women are depicted in literature, changing the work’s tone to be satirical, making fun of this idea, or rebellious, in going away from these beauty standards. Instead of degrading women based on their beauty, women should instead get compliments on their beauty. But most women had no way to change these standards, the only thing they could do was make them into a joke, which is exactly what Austen did in Northanger Abbey.
This study will focus on the way in which Shakespeare crafts his play and uses dramatic devices in his portrayal of Lady Macbeth in order to confront the gender stereotypes of the time, femininity and the natural order of society. During the early 17th century there was a substantial fear that if women were liberated from their domestic, maternal roles, the historically patriarchal society would unravel. With prevailing challenges of gender such as “When you durst do it, then you were a man” Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth to transgress the natural limits concomitant with her sex. In order to be able to answer the research question, it is vital to concretely establish the contemporary gender roles and the context of the play.
[with] direst cruelty”, grants her the ability to act in a way that is considered both ruthless and respected among men, suggesting the difference between the actions of women and men as well as the difference in seriousness taken as a result of action from either gender(1.5.48-50). Without the presence of a stigma relating to gender throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has no reason to declare her disconnect with her feminine identity. However, the idea that gender makes one inferior
Through the course of ‘Macbeth’, masculinity is presented as a driving force to Macbeth’s crimes, making it a vital theme. In this essay, focus will be on masculinity’s presentation through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In the beginning, Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as “valiant”: a prized masculine quality and the key to respect in their society. However, this trait becomes warped along the play. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth has power comparable to man’s
In the popular play Macbeth, Shakespeare compares the gender stereotypes portrayed to those different pre-existing ideas from other generations such as the 1900’s, the 50’s, and even today 's society. Macbeth has plenty of examples of the exaggeration of gender roles that clearly differentiate male and female by construing their proper roles as polar opposite or complementary. Examples proving that there are gender stereotypes in Macbeth pertain to characters such as Lady Macbeth, The Witches, and Macbeth himself. In Macbeth, the many different stereotypes of gender roles from throughout the century to today’s society have been displayed in many aspects of the play. With examples of the exaggeration of gender constructs pertaining to the male
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the protagonist desperately tries to live up to the image of a man that his society portrays. The search for his manhood leads him to violent acts that inevitably get him killed. In this tragedy, male and female roles are constantly discussed and defined. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity to violence and aggression. They both believe that in order to be a real man, then a man must perform violent acts when necessary.
There is a strong correlation between violence and masculinity. In the play, Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth constantly battle the challenges of manhood. This can be supported by Lady Macbeth and her “unsex me speech” (Act 1.5.47-61). During the play Macbeth, characters tend to dwell on issues of gender and their roles in society.
In the beginning Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was a ruthless and masculine woman. She showed the audience that, mentally and emotionally, she was stronger than Macbeth. Although as the story started to continue the audience began to see that she was becoming mentally insane. Throughout the story there was also evidence of shakespeare showing the more masculinity you had the more cuel you became.
It’s no surprise, that Shakespeare’s Macbeth was clearly constructed as a rebellion against femininity roles of the time. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to believe they were inferior to men since men obtained desired masculine qualities such as strength, and loyalty, whereas women were viewed as figures of hospitality (1; 6; 28-31). Obviously, not being tempted by the luxury of subservient women, William Shakespeare rebuked this twisted belief, applying that women deserve more respect than their kitchen tables.
A Modern View of Feminist Criticism William Shakespeare 's "Othello” can be analyzed from a feminist perspective. This criticism focuses on relationships between genders, like the patterns of thoughts, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within sexes. A feminist examination of the play enables us to judge the distinctive social esteems and status of women and proposes that the male-female power connections that become an integral factor in scenes of Othello impact its comprehension. I believe that the critical lens that provides modern society with the most compelling view of literature is Feminist Criticism because it analyzes distrust and disloyalty among relationships, women being treated as possessions
Paul Vu Dr. Elizabeth C. Ramírez THTR 475A.03 2 May 2017 Macbeth and Medea: Breaking Expectations Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Medea by Euripides are known for their powerful critiques on the social expectations of women. Women during the time of Elizabethan and Greek theatre were often stereotyped and considered the weaker sex. Men were depicted as strong individuals who supported and protected women. However, both Shakespeare and Euripides broke expectations by portraying strong and iconic female characters in their respective plays. The idea of a strong female character was often unheard of during the time of Elizabethan and Greek Theatre.
Macbeth takes place in medieval Scotland, where gender barriers were very strict. Men were supposed to act as strong fighters, while women were locked in the domestic sphere. These gender roles are prominent in the character developments of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At first, Macbeth is a strong, heroic solider that shows unbounded courage in battle and loyalty to his king. As the play progresses, he becomes cold, ruthless, and miserable.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare displays how women manipulate men. Lady Macbeth’s ‘evil’ is an ideologically inscribed notion that is often linked to our literary tradition to strong female characters who seek power, who reject filial loyalty as prior to self-loyalty and who pursue desire in all its forms. (Thomas 82). In the story, after Duncan’s killing, Macbeth ended up feeling kind of bad.
It is clear that men and women have two different cultures in Shakespeare’s time, and the relationship between the two was hierarchical. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, it is obvious that the feminine emotions are far less desirable than the masculine. When Lady Macbeth plots to kill Duncan in order for Macbeth to become king, she is aware that he must suppress his natural “love, compassion, pity, [and] remorse” in order to kill Duncan, and she will need to ignore the same emotions, “which she clearly thinks of as feminine” (180). Macbeth, of course, eventually gives in to the gender definitions of his wife and society and kills Duncan. “He is on his way literally and figuratively to becoming the kind of man his wife has urged” (183).
The male roles in the family seem to be above females’ because they get to make decisions for girls. Men feel dominant to women, so the same behaviors as the women are acceptable for them. Along with these, the ladies are not expected to crave love and affection like the gentlemen do. The gender issue of men being dominant and women being submissive used in the drama, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, shows the differences in the roles, behaviors, and expectations appropriate for each gender and is an example of an outdated stereotype. Unlike the time frame of this literature, women in the present are valued equal to men.