While many recognize Macbeth as representative of King James I’s obsessions with absolutism and witchcraft, the play’s explorations of gender also reveal a tangible influence from the conversation surrounding the royal’s assumed... more
While many recognize Macbeth as representative of King James I’s obsessions with absolutism and witchcraft, the play’s explorations of gender also reveal a tangible influence from the conversation surrounding the royal’s assumed femininity and hesitancy to drive England to war. More explicitly, Shakespeare’s play concerns the “womanly infirmity” of the Macbeths in their reluctance towards violence. Much like the unstable, newly-Jacobean England, the environment of Macbeth encourages a universal rejection of feminine weakness. However, the narrative path of Lady Macbeth exploits her attempt to overcome the rigid definitions of female behavior as a measure of her immorality in a way it does not for her husband. Moreover, only Lady Macbeth will meet a stereotypical conclusion by succumbing to hysteria, despite Lord Macbeth having more reason for a descent into madness. Thus, while the theatrical realm rejects general deviancy, Lady Macbeth exclusively faces a villainization founded upon the basis of sex.
