Feminine Roles in Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Macbeths Feminine Roles The feminine roles in William Shakespeares Macbeth are only two, the witches world non human in many ways, and we shall(a) consider only unmatched in great detail in this essay - that of the all-important dame Macbeth. The witches are considered briefly. In Memoranda Remarks on the Character of Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons comments on how the feminine role of the leading lady is not a true one as regards attitude Macbeth announces the Kings approach and she, insensible it should seem to all the perils which he has encountered in battle, and to all the happiness of his safe return to her, -- for not one kind word of greeting or congratulations does she offer, -- is so entirely swallowed up by the horrible design, which has probably been suggested to her by his letters, as to have forgotten both the one and the other. It is very remarkable that Macbeth is support in expressions of tenderness to his wife, while she never betrays one symptom of meat towar ds him, till, in the fiery furnace of affliction, her iron heart is melted down to softness. (56) dirty dog Kemble in Lady Macbeth finds that the main female role could have finish in madness due to the evil tendencies of the lady Lady Macbeth, nonetheless in her sleep, has no qualms of conscience her remorse takes none of the tenderer forms akin to repentance, nor the weaker ones confederate to fear, from the pursuit of which the tortured soul, seeking where to hide itself, not seldom escapes into the eternal wilderness of madness. A very able article, published some old age ago in the National Review, on the character of Lady Macbeth, insists a great deal upon an opinion that she died of remorse, as some palliation of her crimes, and mitigation of our detestation of them. That she died of immorality would be, I theorize, a juster verdict. Remorse is consciousness of viciousness . . . and that I think Lady Macbeth never had though the unrecognized pressure of her great guilt killed her. (116-17) Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare contradict the impression that the female protagonist is all strength Lady Macbeth is of a finer and more than delicate nature. Having fixed her eye upon the end - the attainment for her husband of Duncans hint - she accepts the inevitable means she nerves herself for the terrible nights work by conventionalised stimulants yet she cannot strike the sleeping king who resembles her father.