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Abstract: Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, has been subject to various interpretations after its publication. In light of the theory of feminist criticism, this essay attempts to analyze the character of Lady Macbeth from the angle of the female rights of discourses in the patriarchal society, to expose patriarchal premises and resulting prejudices, and to discovery and reevaluation of the character of Lady Macbeth.
Key Words: Lady;Macbeth;feminist;criticism;patriarchal;female;rights;of;discourses
Ⅰ、Introduction
Macbeth, the most tragic work of all tragedies, depicts the rapid and brutal rise of the feudal warrior Macbeth to the throne of Scotland. In the meantime, Lady Macbeth, as a secondary character, becomes unhinged by the crimes and atrocities that she and Macbeth have committed, and she finally kills herself. In the eyes of most critics, Lady Macbeth is a vicious person with a “masculine firmness” and a “strong-nerved ambition” (1), who seduces Macbeth to kill Duncan, the king. However, she is also a sympathetic figure because she is a victim with little female discourses in the patriarchal society.
This article tries to analyze the reasons for it on the basis of the theory of feminist criticism. The discussion includes four parts: Part one discusses that Lady Macbeth lacks her female name. Part two focus on the facts that she loses her role as an accomplice, wife or mother. Part three probes into her relationship with her husband. Part four exposes the inevitability of her miserable fate in the patriarchal society.
Ⅱ、Literary Review
Since the drama Macbeth was played on the stage, especially after the Feminist Movements boom in recent years, Lady Macbeth has been a controversial figure in the history of literature. Some critics and scholars comment Lady Macbeth as a sympathetic figure than a “great bad woman” (Ibid 1) in the feminist perspective.
Jameson presents the first full interpretation of Lady Macbeth. She points out that the idea to murder Duncan occurs first to Macbeth and that Lady Macbeth does not incite Macbeth to commit the subsequent “gratuitous murders”. Of Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, Jameson states that it evokes sympathy and “we rather sigh over the ruin than exult in it.” She concludes that Shakespeare never presents evil without “a consciousness of the opposite good which shall balance and relieve it.”(2) Hudson has also the same opinion that he discusses the character of Lady Macbeth, noting how her firm intellect and reliance on “nothing but facts” contrasts with Macbeth’s superstition. (3)
These views above present Lady Macbeth as a sympathetic person from the perspective of feminist criticism. However, only a few critics and scholars focus on the analysis of the female rights of discourses in the patriarchal society. Therefore, this essay attempts to analyze why there exists an inconsistency between Lady Macbeth’s “cold-hearted reasoning” (4) in support of Duncan’s murder and her later tormented conscience, and further expose her subordinate position to her husband and a victim rather than an accomplice in the patriarchal society.
Ⅲ、Theoretical Framework
The Historical implication of “feminism” usually means “movements for recognition of the claims of women for rights (legal, political, familial, etc.) equal to those possessed by men.” (5) In its diversity feminism is concerned with the marginalization of all women: that is, with their being relegated to a secondary position. Most feminists believe that our culture is a patriarchal culture: that is, one organized in favor of the interests of men.
Ⅳ、Discussion
Indeed, Lady Macbeth’s words and behaviors in the beginning of the drama are undeniable. However, she can’t bear the torturing of conscience and commits her suicide at last. If we take a feminist perspective, we can discover that she is a victim rather than an accomplice in the patriarchal society.
As far as it is concerned, Lady Macbeth doesn’t have a name in the drama, instead she is subordinated to his husband after married. Women had no social status in the patriarchal society. They were completely dependent on men. Therefore, they had to express themselves by means of the force of their husbands. Women were oppressed seriously by their male controllers at that time and lack of their own discourse to show their identity.
“Macbeth chooses a ‘path of evil’ long before the temptations of Lady Macbeth and may have been more corruptive than corrupted.”(6) When the king’s men tell Macbeth that he is prompted to the thane of Cawdor, he is so exciting that can’t help meditating about his bright future. “Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme.” “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, …” “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (7)These words strongly express Macbeth’s desire and ambition to be what the three witches solicit him. In fact, neither the witches nor Lady Macbeth symbolize or determine Macbeth’s action.
Why is Lady Macbeth eager to help murder the king, Duncan? In this aspect, Lady Macbeth’s role as wife and mother make much sense. Her passion is her love for her husband and that her participation in Duncan’s murder is motivated by her concern for him. From the drama, we know Lady Macbeth has no children. If they snatch the throne, they still have no children to inherit it. However, Lady Macbeth knows her husband very well. When she reads his letter in Scene 5, Act 1, “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it”. (Ibid 7) So she decides to devote to minister to his hopes and aspirations. “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valor of my tongue. All that impedes thee from the golden round, which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal.”(Ibid 7) She completely regards Macbeth as both husband and son.
When she is in her sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth suspects and asks her husband “The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?” (Ibid 7) Later she reveals her burden of spiritual torturing from the murder with her sleeping words: “Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!” (Ibid 7) Here Lady Macbeth changed her crazy attitude into a rational mind. Her true character is exposed in the sleepwalking scene in which she recovers back to her former humanity and conscience. The murder she helps commit has tortured her to death.
Though she is bearing the anguish and repressed heart, Macbeth doesn’t care for her and shows indifference towards her mental disorder and even her suicide. “She should have died hereafter”. (Ibid 7) She was totally rejected by her husband, any role as an accomplice, wife or mother. Just as William Maginn said, “it is a pity that such a woman should have been united to such a man”. (8)
Millet saw literature as a record of the collective consciousness of patriarchy. As a “resisting reader” who focused on patterns of dominance and submission, she found that these writers distort female characters by associating them with deviance. As she observed, the “interior colonization” of women by men is “sturdier than any form of segregation, and more rigorous than class stratification, more uniform, certainly more enduring” (9) Kristeva advocates a notion of cultural and personal identity which recognizes that the strangeness of the other is a strangeness within. Identity, then, must be seen as provisional rather than exclusive, constructed as an effect of the heterogeneous processes of discourses.”(10) All this explains the fact that woman is always negatively defined, who talks but never speaks.
In the patriarchal society of male-centered discourses Lady Macbeth has to be subject to a relentless fate. However, her true character is revealed in the sleepwalking scene in which her senses are dominated by the conscience, which is “more intensely tragic than any other scene in Shakespeare”. (Ibid 3)
Ⅴ、Conclusion
Lady Macbeth, as the second tragic figure, helps her husband commit a crime and bears a heavy spiritual burden until her death. In Macbeth, Mrs. Macbeth totally loses her role as accomplice, wife or mother and her rights of female discourses in the patriarchal society, in which the rights of discourses controlled by male. Lady Macbeth has no way to reveal her true feeling, only leaves it to the sleeping walking alone. Maybe nowadays we can hear a little of her low, sad and helpless whisper.
Bibliography:
[1]Guerin, Wilfred L. et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2006.
[2]Liu Haiping, Zhu Xuefeng, eds. British and American Drama: Plays and Criticisms. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2008.(7).
[3]Maginn, William. “Bentley’s Miscellany”(1837), in Laurie Lanzen Harris and Mark W. Scot, ed. Shakespearean Criticism, Vol.3. USA: Gale Research Company,1986.(8),(9),(10).
[4]Zhu Gang. ed. Twentieth Century Western Critical Theories. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2008. (5).
[5]毛海涛,麦克白夫人的悲剧。沧州师范专科学校学报,第24卷第3期 (2008年九月).
Key Words: Lady;Macbeth;feminist;criticism;patriarchal;female;rights;of;discourses
Ⅰ、Introduction
Macbeth, the most tragic work of all tragedies, depicts the rapid and brutal rise of the feudal warrior Macbeth to the throne of Scotland. In the meantime, Lady Macbeth, as a secondary character, becomes unhinged by the crimes and atrocities that she and Macbeth have committed, and she finally kills herself. In the eyes of most critics, Lady Macbeth is a vicious person with a “masculine firmness” and a “strong-nerved ambition” (1), who seduces Macbeth to kill Duncan, the king. However, she is also a sympathetic figure because she is a victim with little female discourses in the patriarchal society.
This article tries to analyze the reasons for it on the basis of the theory of feminist criticism. The discussion includes four parts: Part one discusses that Lady Macbeth lacks her female name. Part two focus on the facts that she loses her role as an accomplice, wife or mother. Part three probes into her relationship with her husband. Part four exposes the inevitability of her miserable fate in the patriarchal society.
Ⅱ、Literary Review
Since the drama Macbeth was played on the stage, especially after the Feminist Movements boom in recent years, Lady Macbeth has been a controversial figure in the history of literature. Some critics and scholars comment Lady Macbeth as a sympathetic figure than a “great bad woman” (Ibid 1) in the feminist perspective.
Jameson presents the first full interpretation of Lady Macbeth. She points out that the idea to murder Duncan occurs first to Macbeth and that Lady Macbeth does not incite Macbeth to commit the subsequent “gratuitous murders”. Of Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, Jameson states that it evokes sympathy and “we rather sigh over the ruin than exult in it.” She concludes that Shakespeare never presents evil without “a consciousness of the opposite good which shall balance and relieve it.”(2) Hudson has also the same opinion that he discusses the character of Lady Macbeth, noting how her firm intellect and reliance on “nothing but facts” contrasts with Macbeth’s superstition. (3)
These views above present Lady Macbeth as a sympathetic person from the perspective of feminist criticism. However, only a few critics and scholars focus on the analysis of the female rights of discourses in the patriarchal society. Therefore, this essay attempts to analyze why there exists an inconsistency between Lady Macbeth’s “cold-hearted reasoning” (4) in support of Duncan’s murder and her later tormented conscience, and further expose her subordinate position to her husband and a victim rather than an accomplice in the patriarchal society.
Ⅲ、Theoretical Framework
The Historical implication of “feminism” usually means “movements for recognition of the claims of women for rights (legal, political, familial, etc.) equal to those possessed by men.” (5) In its diversity feminism is concerned with the marginalization of all women: that is, with their being relegated to a secondary position. Most feminists believe that our culture is a patriarchal culture: that is, one organized in favor of the interests of men.
Ⅳ、Discussion
Indeed, Lady Macbeth’s words and behaviors in the beginning of the drama are undeniable. However, she can’t bear the torturing of conscience and commits her suicide at last. If we take a feminist perspective, we can discover that she is a victim rather than an accomplice in the patriarchal society.
As far as it is concerned, Lady Macbeth doesn’t have a name in the drama, instead she is subordinated to his husband after married. Women had no social status in the patriarchal society. They were completely dependent on men. Therefore, they had to express themselves by means of the force of their husbands. Women were oppressed seriously by their male controllers at that time and lack of their own discourse to show their identity.
“Macbeth chooses a ‘path of evil’ long before the temptations of Lady Macbeth and may have been more corruptive than corrupted.”(6) When the king’s men tell Macbeth that he is prompted to the thane of Cawdor, he is so exciting that can’t help meditating about his bright future. “Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme.” “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, …” “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (7)These words strongly express Macbeth’s desire and ambition to be what the three witches solicit him. In fact, neither the witches nor Lady Macbeth symbolize or determine Macbeth’s action.
Why is Lady Macbeth eager to help murder the king, Duncan? In this aspect, Lady Macbeth’s role as wife and mother make much sense. Her passion is her love for her husband and that her participation in Duncan’s murder is motivated by her concern for him. From the drama, we know Lady Macbeth has no children. If they snatch the throne, they still have no children to inherit it. However, Lady Macbeth knows her husband very well. When she reads his letter in Scene 5, Act 1, “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it”. (Ibid 7) So she decides to devote to minister to his hopes and aspirations. “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valor of my tongue. All that impedes thee from the golden round, which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal.”(Ibid 7) She completely regards Macbeth as both husband and son.
When she is in her sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth suspects and asks her husband “The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?” (Ibid 7) Later she reveals her burden of spiritual torturing from the murder with her sleeping words: “Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!” (Ibid 7) Here Lady Macbeth changed her crazy attitude into a rational mind. Her true character is exposed in the sleepwalking scene in which she recovers back to her former humanity and conscience. The murder she helps commit has tortured her to death.
Though she is bearing the anguish and repressed heart, Macbeth doesn’t care for her and shows indifference towards her mental disorder and even her suicide. “She should have died hereafter”. (Ibid 7) She was totally rejected by her husband, any role as an accomplice, wife or mother. Just as William Maginn said, “it is a pity that such a woman should have been united to such a man”. (8)
Millet saw literature as a record of the collective consciousness of patriarchy. As a “resisting reader” who focused on patterns of dominance and submission, she found that these writers distort female characters by associating them with deviance. As she observed, the “interior colonization” of women by men is “sturdier than any form of segregation, and more rigorous than class stratification, more uniform, certainly more enduring” (9) Kristeva advocates a notion of cultural and personal identity which recognizes that the strangeness of the other is a strangeness within. Identity, then, must be seen as provisional rather than exclusive, constructed as an effect of the heterogeneous processes of discourses.”(10) All this explains the fact that woman is always negatively defined, who talks but never speaks.
In the patriarchal society of male-centered discourses Lady Macbeth has to be subject to a relentless fate. However, her true character is revealed in the sleepwalking scene in which her senses are dominated by the conscience, which is “more intensely tragic than any other scene in Shakespeare”. (Ibid 3)
Ⅴ、Conclusion
Lady Macbeth, as the second tragic figure, helps her husband commit a crime and bears a heavy spiritual burden until her death. In Macbeth, Mrs. Macbeth totally loses her role as accomplice, wife or mother and her rights of female discourses in the patriarchal society, in which the rights of discourses controlled by male. Lady Macbeth has no way to reveal her true feeling, only leaves it to the sleeping walking alone. Maybe nowadays we can hear a little of her low, sad and helpless whisper.
Bibliography:
[1]Guerin, Wilfred L. et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2006.
[2]Liu Haiping, Zhu Xuefeng, eds. British and American Drama: Plays and Criticisms. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2008.(7).
[3]Maginn, William. “Bentley’s Miscellany”(1837), in Laurie Lanzen Harris and Mark W. Scot, ed. Shakespearean Criticism, Vol.3. USA: Gale Research Company,1986.(8),(9),(10).
[4]Zhu Gang. ed. Twentieth Century Western Critical Theories. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2008. (5).
[5]毛海涛,麦克白夫人的悲剧。沧州师范专科学校学报,第24卷第3期 (2008年九月).