LM: masculinity

• Lady Macbeth


  As a woman, she would have been socially pressured to appear less ambitious and encouraged to hide her desires
• Lady Macbeth only encourages her husband to carry out Duncan's murder and does not herself commit it</b>
• Lady Macbeth

  • She can be viewed as more ruthless and single-minded in her ambition than Macbeth
  • After Macbeth receives the Witches' original prophecy, he is not satisfied or resolved to act on it and seeks his wife's counsel
  • Lady Macbeth then "pours her spirit into [his] ear" (A1.S5.L24) and directs his actions, all the while persistently questioning his manhood
• Lady Macbeth uses gender norms to shame Macbeth into committing murder


  The power dynamic between them is uncommon for the day - a wife would have been expected to be submissive and accepting of her husband's orders
• In a reversal of this, Lady Macbeth wields power over Macbeth and directs his actions
• Lady Macbeth

  • Due to her ruthless ambition, she would have been viewed as a masculine character
  • A Jacobean audience might have been inclined to view her particularly negatively on the assumption that she is untrustworthy because she does not conform to accepted gender norms