Comparison between Lady Macbeth and Ideal Elizabethan woman

Lady Macbeth is the not the stereotypical Elizabethan woman and yet she is, in one way. The characteristics of an ideal Elizabethan woman is to be submissive and obedient, passive and silent, witty, has constancy, is pious, is patient and kind and is powerless. She is not the ideal Elizabethan woman when it comes to all the other characteristics except constancy, which she possesses.

Lady Macbeth is the ideal Elizabethan woman as she has constancy. Like an ideal Elizabethan woman, she is devoted to her husband, Macbeth. This is the main reason why she wanted the kingship, to help Macbeth achieve what he desires. She admires him and sees him as a great man. She greets Macbeth as “great Glamis” and “worthy Cawdor”. She respects her husband to a great extent and considers him as a great man. The fact that she proudly addresses him with his worthy titles shows that she is devoted to him. In act 1 scene 5, when she reads the letter Macbeth had written to her, she was willing to do all the planning for the murder of the king, for her husband. She says “leave all the rest to me.” She always tries to help him as she is fully aware of his weaknesses. She did everything to help her husband achieve what he desired most, the kingship. She did everything except kill Duncan as he looked like her father when he was asleep. However, she was the mastermind behind the planning of the murder. “all that impedes thee from the golden round, which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have the crown’s withal.” She wants her husband to have his greatest ambition which is to achieve Kingship, to come true. This clearly shows her love for her husband as she wants his desires to be satisfied.

Lady Macbeth is not the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is not submissive and obedient. She is the Dominant partner in the relationship. When Macbeth did not want to go ahead with the plan, she did not remain quiet and accept Macbeth’s decision. She instead says “Was the hope drunk wherein you dress’d yourself?” She does not let Macbeth go with his decision. She immediately protests against the fact that Macbeth is not keeping the promise that he would kill the King, which he made earlier. She also mocks him by saying, “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?” This shows that she is mocking her husband for his cowardice in backing out of the plan to kill Duncan. She opposes her husband’s decision not to commit regicide. She persuades him into committing the regicide by mocking him and questioning her love for him. As Macbeth loves his wife very much and as his courage was being tested, he had no choice but to do as told.

Lady Macbeth is not the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is not passive and silent. She is manipulative. She intends to use her words to persuade him into committing regicide and effectively manipulating him to agree to commit to it. She opposes her husband’s decision not to commit regicide. She takes charge of the plan to murder Duncan. Elizabethan Women are passive and agree with everything that the husband says. However, in this case, Lady Macbeth is not submissive and passive as, she manipulates her husband’s masculine pride, by questioning his manhood and courage, and changes his mind to make him commit regicide. She is also the mastermind who plots out the murder of Duncan. She said, “Leave all the rest to me” which shows that she takes charge of the situation, and leaves Macbeth to only carry the plan out. She makes the decisions and instructs him about the plan. Therefore, she is not submissive and is dominant instead.

Lady Macbeth is not the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is witty. She plans the murder of Duncan. She cunningly tells Macbeth to pretend to be good host while plotting to murder Duncan. She says “Leave everything to me”. Lady Macbeth is the mastermind of the regicide. She is clever and thinks about the plan thoroughly and is confident that it will be carried out smoothly. She instructs Macbeth to look “like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”. Her cunning advice to her husband to look like welcoming hosts to Duncan and not rouse any suspicion of Duncan and his party, shows her intelligence. She intends to push the blame to Duncan’s “spongy officers” for the regicide. She tries to make sure there are no loop holes in her plan to murder Duncan. “When you durst do it, then you were a man” This shows that Lady Macbeth is aggravating her husband by questioning his manhood. She is trying to persuade her husband to not give up his ambition. As a warrior who fights in wars for his country, Macbeth kills his enemy fearlessly and Lady Macbeth’s comment undermines his ego. She uses her knowledge of Macbeth to effectively manipulate him to commit regicide. After committing the murder, she makes

sure that there is no way that the uspicion will fall on them even though Macbeth was not helping at all. He was too traumatized but Lady Macbeth took things in her hand and was alert at all times. Therefore, Lady Macbeth is clever, unlike the ideal Elizabethan woman.

Lady Macbeth is not the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is not pious. She appeals to evil forces to help her and husband to commit regicide and thinks of murder to attain the kingship. The fact that she asked the evil forces to “Make thick my blood” and “take my milk for gall” shows that she is not spiritual. Firstly, anyone who is spiritual would not be calling the evil forces for help. Secondly, committing regicide is a sin and that was the first thing she started planning for as soon as she heard the news of King Duncan’s arrival. This clearly shows that she is not pious.

Lady Macbeth is not the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is not patient and kind. While an ideal Elizabethan woman is patient and kind, Lady Macbeth is impatient and heartless. She is impatient as she thinks of regicide as the “nearest way” to get the throne for Macbeth. This means she wants to attain the kingship for her husband very quickly. She seizes the opportunity of Duncan staying with them to kill him and to discuss the murder of Duncan with Macbeth once he comes home. Also, once Macbeth arrived home after a long war, Lady Macbeth immediately brings up the murder plan to her husband. Therefore, it can be seen that she is very impatient and never wants to waste any time. She is also very cruel. She said that she would willingly kill her own child if she had to. She said that she would have “pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed his brains out”. She says that she will dash her baby’s brain when she is feeding milk to the baby. This shows that she is unkind as when a mother is breast-feeding her baby that is the time when the bond is the strongest between the child and mother; however, Lady Macbeth says she will kill her baby at that point breaking the strong bond showing her cruelty. She is going against her maternal instincts of caring for her child. This shows that Lady Macbeth is unlike an ideal Elizabethan woman as she is cruel and impatient.

Lady Macbeth is not the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is powerful. While an ideal Elizabethan woman is powerless, Lady Macbeth is powerful. She makes use of her husband’s deep love for her to influence him to do things her way. She is able to influence her husband to agree to committing regicide using her husband’s deep love and respect for her. While an ideal Elizabethan woman is powerless, Lady Macbeth is powerful. She makes use of her husband’s deep love for her to influence him to do things her way. Her husband refers to her as his “dearest partner of greatness” and his “dearest love”. Her response to Macbeth not wanting to murder the king anymore, “from this time such I account thy love”, implies that she is making use of Macbeth’s genuine love for her to influence him into doing what she wants him to do, which in this case, is murdering the king. Macbeth’s reply “I dare do all that may become a man” shows that she has a great influence over her husband and that what she says means a lot to Macbeth as he loves her very much. Macbeth is also the thane of Glamis and Cawdor and is a Scottish general and nobleman. In addition, he is Duncan’s cousin and is favored by him. Thus, the fact that Lady Macbeth has power over such a great man shows that she has control over things. We can see from this, that there is a distinct contrast between Lady Macbeth and the typical Elizabethan women because while ideal Elizabethan women were powerless, Lady Macbeth was powerful.