The Character of Beatrice and Lady Macbeth by Shakespeare - Essay Example

 Introduction: Shakespeare’s plays “Macbeth” and “Much Ado about Nothing” were both created during an era in medieval England where the strict parameters within which gender roles were ascribed often meant that women were restricted in many ways. While men were allowed to be assertive and seek power, even stooping to violence where it became necessary in order to achieve the objective, women were expected to be submissive and obedient, assuming a subordinate role in patriarchal society. While Macbeth is a tragedy and Much Ado about Nothing is a comedy, nevertheless the female protagonists in both of these plays struggle against the gender constraints imposed by society and demonstrate aggressive and assertive traits more closely associated with masculinity during that era. The characters of Lady Macbeth and Beatrice go against the norm and do not fit the ascribed gender appropriate roles, swinging more in the direction of masculine traits and thereby offering a suggestion of the underlying struggle by women of that era against rigid gender roles. Macbeth: In the play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as an ambitious woman, a woman desperate to gain power through her husband, desperate enough to resort to the evil deed of murder. The plunge into evil itself strips her of her feminine qualities and pushes her into the world of violence and aggressiveness that was the province of the males during the Elizabethan era. Hildebrand (1983) offers the view that virtuous acts are always masculine in a man and feminine in a woman. In Shakespeare’s work Macbeth, a similar representation of femininity has been presented although it has been switched around, wherein since virtue is related to the extent of masculinity or femininity in a person, the lack of virtue would correspondingly corrode or impact negatively upon such virtue. In Macbeth, Shakespeare suggests that evil is an entity that is capable of destroying the femininity in a woman. This is most notably evident in the character of Lady MacBeth, and the manner in which the essence of her femininity is destroyed by her evil plans and actions, so much so that she even loses the physical appearance of femininity. In the process of carrying out her evil deeds, Lady Macbeth appears to perceive that she cannot go ahead with them when she is ensconced within the femininity of her person and she cries out to the spirits, demanding: “Come ye spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from crown to toe, top full of direst cruelty!” (1:5-41-43). Her recognition of the need to necessarily eschew her femininity in order to carry out her evil deeds is further corroborated in the differences that arise between her and Macbeth on the issue of murder. Macbeth balks at the plan to murder the king, being filled with horror. He tells Lady Macbeth that he dares to do “all that may become a man; who dares do more is none.” (1:7-48-49).This directly implies that he considers the entry into the path of evil to be associated with his masculinity in that it would detract from his masculine persona if he did evil deeds. This approach of Macbeth is quite the opposite of the intent of Lady Macbeth, who associates cruelty with masculinity and in her willingness to pursue the path of evil, cruelty and murder, is quite willing to discard any femininity that would detract from carrying out her evil purpose. She not only demonstrates a willingness to enter into the realm of the evil, but is quite aware of the damage that may be done to her femininity if she does so and yet chooses to go ahead with it. She disputes Macbeth’s views and his reluctance to enter the province of evil, by ridiculing the fact that he does not dare to do the evil deeds, contending that he was more of a man when he agreed to perform rather than when he is reluctant to do so. But her very words and attitude demonstrate how very cruel she has already become and how much her femininity has already been eroded. She states: “I have given suck and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me; I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had so sworn as you have done to this.” (1:7-55-60) It is hardly surprising that Lady Macbeth does not shrink from murder, the views she has expressed above show how little pity and mercy are left in her heart because of the way she would be able to treat a helpless baby. The qualities that comprise femininity include tenderness and love; nurturing young ones is a vital component of being female and a woman. The females of every species, including the human race, care for the young ones because they are helpless, until such time that they are able to care for themselves. But Lady Macbeth in describing herself as tearing out her nipple that provides life sustaining milk for her baby from its gums and then dashing its brains out shows how she would perform actions contrary to the spirit of tenderness and nurturing that characterize femininity. She is stating clearly that she would quite willingly hurt her helpless young ones deliberately and without any qualms, even if the act is cruel and devoid of feminine tenderness and love. The lines above also appear to suggest that Lady Macbeth is implying that she is more of a man than her husband is. She is mocking him for his apparent cowardice to go ahead with the murder that she is instigating him to perform, and trying to embarrass him by implying that she is more masculine than he is, because she would not balk at performing the action and taking a life, being cruel enough to hurt a small helpless infant if need be. Thus, in order to carry out evil acts, Lady Macbeth’s character has to change, eschewing traditional feminine qualities of softness, gentleness and tenderness in order to put on more masculine traits of hardness and purported strength. Lady Macbeth mocks her husband in the challenge she issues to him: “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.” (1:7-50-52). She is thus criticizing him for not being manly enough and then she follows it up by stating that she would be able to demonstrate the necessary hardness associated with masculinity. This erosion of her femininity can be directly linked to the cruel and evil act of murder that she is contemplating with her husband. Hilderbrand (1983) expresses the view that virtue actually enhances the masculinity or femininity of an individual, but the change in the gender based qualities of Lady Macbeth that are wrought by her evil thoughts, plans and actions shows how evil can also cause a deterioration in these feminine qualities, making her hard and cruel rather than gentle and kind. In order to carry out the evil deed of murder, Lady Macbeth literally has to put aside her femininity. Her ambition drives her to adopt a typically masculine, aggressive role, putting away the softness associated with her own gender, because it would make her too tender hearted to carry out a murder. Ancona and Thompson (2005) argue that there is a reversal of roles between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the play, which revolves around the issue of gender. In the process of engaging in the evil acts, there is an attempt to break out of rigidly defined gender roles into which the two sexes are expected to fit. Lady Macbeth is confined to the gender specific softness and tenderness, but this role is not strong enough to enable her to perform the actions necessary to acquire the power that she craves. They state that Lady Macbeth’s dramatic role reversal and her later death at her own hand can be traced back to her own desire for power and her related attempt to overthrow the existing patriarchal order to society in order to achieve those ends (Ancona and Thompson, 2005). The story of Macbeth is set during medieval times in England, when females had to assume a submissive role and it was unthinkable for them to be assertive and dominant as the males were. But Lady Macbeth craves power to the exclusion of all else and this power is limited to males; as a result the path to the assumption of that power requires her to break out of her gender defined role in order to take on the more masculine traits necessary to propel her on her evil path. The traditional feminine role would have rendered her completely unaware of her husband’s work and plans, but by putting aside her femininity, Lady Macbeth fulfils her role as the helpmate of her husband, although it is in a gruesome fashion.(Ancona and Thompson, 2005). While she should not have known anything about her husband’s doings in accordance with her gender accorded role, Lady Macbeth actively aids and abets her husband in the plans to seize power by setting aside her femininity. Greene (1984) has argued that the equation of masculinity with violence originates in Lady Macbeth. The change in character of Lady Macbeth therefore shows how her descent into evil is also associated with a decline in her femininity and associated traits and qualities, so that she becomes unsexed (Grail , 2002: 34). In her desire to see her husband seize power, Lady Macbeth becomes like a fiend, driving herself and her husband onto the performance of evil deeds by putting aside all forms of gentleness and tenderness. She steps out of her gender ascribed role and assumes a more dominant, assertive and aggressive role, putting aside her feminine qualities of nurturing and tenderness in order to take the path of evil. Her femininity becomes the victim sacrificed at the altar of her ambition. The characterization of Lady Macbeth successfully contravenes the traditional picture of femininity in that era, it represents the underlying desire of women to be able to move into an arena of assertiveness and violence traditionally reserved for men. The presentation of the witches as characters whose femininity is questionable due to their evil deeds further shows how female subjectivity was fashioned in Elizabethan England, both in terms of the gendered subject and in reference to the subjection of women to the men. (Newman, 2002: 52-55). These witches do not fall under the category of ‘natural’ women, because there are only three in the play – Lady Macbeth, her assistant and Lady McDuff. The character of Lady McDuff is humble and epitomizes natural femininity as conceived in the Elizabethan age – a state of helplessness, because her husband left her and her children, which is very different from lady Macbeth and the witches.( :43) Much Ado about nothing: Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado about nothing” also reflects the conflicts between the perceived submissive role of women in a patriarchal society as pitted against social mobility and the volatility in gender relations. The main character of Beatrice in the play illustrates the underlying rebellion women were feeling against the constraints imposed upon them by medieval English society. Shakespeare accomplishes this through the differing portrayals of two women in the p-lay – Beatrice and Hero. The character of Hero portrays conventional femininity in the submissiveness that was expected of women. The character of Beatrice on the other hand is more assertive. Throughout the play, Beatrice makes several speeches in which she cries “Oh God that I were a man” (IV:i:304,315-16) and McEachern (1988) contends that this assertiveness reflects Shakespeare’s questioning of patriarchal authority which was prevalent at the time. She offers the view that the representation of the female protagonist with male attributes of assertiveness, wit and realism portrays Shakespeare’s views about the unsustainability of the gender role ascribed to females under the Elizabethan, patriarchal power structure and his desire to understand it. Beatrice wishes she was a man instead of a woman because she believes in the virtue of her friend Hero, who she believes was unjustly accused of sexual promiscuity. But Beatrice is also constrained by her gender in avenging the death. The restrictions placed upon her as a female do not allow her to venture into this area and she must exhort her admirer, Benedick to undertake the job instead, simply because he is a male and is allowed by society to be violent and aggressive. Her antagonist is Claudio, the man who was engaged to be married to Hero, but chose to believe a rumour casting doubts on her chastity, as a result of which she apparently kills herself and Beatrice seeks to avenge her death. But her femininity is the barrier that prevents her from moving forward and taking action, because it is considered inappropriate and assertiveness and violence do not fit the gender role that is ascribed to women. Hugh argues however that Beatrice’s attacks on the hypocrisy of men and on conventional marriage should not be too directly construed as proto feminist; on the contrary she is almost like an honorary man which is why she is so popular with them and represents much less of a threat than the conventional woman, Hero.(Mares, 2003:59) Shakespeare presents this character as Benedick’s equal in every way, especially in terms of intelligence and will and thus appears to be questioning why a female who appears to be the man’s equal in every way must be forced to assume a submissive role. In the Macbeth play, Shakespeare has shown through the character of Lady Macbeth that a woman can be as driven by greed for power as a man can, resorting to violence and cruelty where necessary in pressing towards the desired objective. This appears to belie the beliefs existing at the time that women were weak and needed to be protected because they were unable to fend for themselves. In the case fo Macbeth, it is his wife who really plays the dominant role and instigates him on to commit the murder, even at a time when he appears soft and reluctant to move in that direction. The selection of the name Hero by Shakespeare in the play Much Ado about Nothing also appears to suggest the inner rebellion against the traditional societal restrictions that femininity entails. It is a masculine name, a name reminiscent of bravery and valor, strength and courage in battle – an area traditionally reserved for males rather than females. While most critics’ assessment of Hero places her as a “conventionally feminine; meek, self effacing, vulnerable, obedient, seen and not heard....a face without a voice” kind of a person, Cook offers the view that the character of Hero actually belies such a characterization. (Cook, 1986: 191), especially through Shakespeare’s choice of name for this female character that apparently conforms to society’s norms. For example, the manner in which Hero ensures that the eavesdropping scene occurs in order to make sure that Beatrice is drawn in and ensnared demonstrates boldness and initiative that would have been more characteristic of a man rather than a conventional female of the era. While it is the female character of Margaret that impersonates hero and this character is only the maid, the person actually scripting and directing the scene is none other than Hero, who expresses her intentions as: “I’ll devise some honest slanders, to stain my cousin with.” (III:i: 84-85). Hence, Shakespeare appears to be suggesting yet again through this character, that females may be as capable as men of all kinds of machinations, whether good or evil and thus questioning whether relegating them to a pre-conceived role is tenable. The character of Beatrice in the play demonstrates such qualities such as aggressiveness, assertiveness and a wit and ability to see reality that were supposed to be more male characteristics rather than female ones in medieval England. Thus, although the characters of Hero and Beatrice appear to be opposites in that the former represents the traditional picture of femininity, while Beatrice represents the emerging and increasingly assertive female of the Elizabethan era, yet the underlying struggle and rebellion against the gender ascribed role of femininity may thus be evident in both the characters. Conclusions: The character of Beatrice is different from Lady Macbeth in that the motivation that drives her to seek a more male role is different. Beatrice seeks to avenge Hero’s purported death, while Lady Macbeth seeks to kill in order that her husband may seize power. While the former’s motives are more noble and the latter’s motives are more base, yet both these female characters deviate from the traditional norms of femininity as were typical during the Elizabethan era. They are both stronger and more assertive than females are supposed to be. Both these protagonists appear to be the equal of the men they are partnered with and perhaps are even one step ahead of them. Despite possessing equal abilities as the males however, they are confined by the gender ascribed roles they must conform to and must seek to achieve their desired objectives by inciting and impelling their males to go ahead and perform the necessary deeds of violence for them. In the case of Lady Macbeth, her move into the male realm requires her to eschew her female qualities of tenderness and nurturing in order to assume a more dominant male role that is capable of force, violence and cruelty. The character of Beatrice repeatedly wishes that she could be a male in order to be able to challenge Claudio and revenge herself on him for the pain and suffering he has caused to Hero. The sentiments expressed by both these characters demonstrates how the women chafed against society’s gender imposed restrictions and wished and wanted to assume a more dominant male role that would also allow them greater levels of freedom. Through these characters, Shakespeare appears to be questioning the wisdom and reasoning behind these ascribed gender roles, especially by demonstrating how his characters do not typically fit into them but are more than a match for their males. He seems to be trying to understand the rationale behind the imposition of such roles as he presents characters that belie the traditional view of femininity. If anything, these female protagonists are even stronger and more assertive than their male counterparts, being their equals in terms of intelligence, will power, wit and their ability to grasp reality and to proceed with cold blooded calm and clarity in the achievement of their end objectives. He therefore appears to be questioning the very definition of femininity as it was understood in those days, as he shows through his characters that females were as capable as men and were not willing to be limited in the expression of their strength or in the achievement of their objectives through the use of violence and force where it became necessary. While the lack of physical strength may function as a barrier in women, Shakespeare demonstrates through his characters that in terms of their intelligence, ability and capacity for evil they may be the equal of men and the rationale for limiting them to a subordinate role in society may need to be challenged. Bibliography: Ancona, Francesco Aristide and Thompson, Mary Ives, 2005. “What causes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to change personalities?” , Journal of Evolutionary Psyhcology, 27 (3-4): 59 Cook, Carol, 1986. '"The Sign and Semblance of Her Honor": Reading Gender Difference in Much Ado About Nothing”, PMLA 101, 186-202 Frolich, Vinzent, 2008. “The construction of femininity and masculinity in Shakespeare’s Shakespeare’s Macbeth”, GRIN Verlag Publishers. Greene, James J, 1984. “Macbeth: Masculinity as murder”, American Imago, 41(2): 155-80 Hildebrand, Dietrich, 1983. “Man and Woman”, Regenery Publishers Mares, Frances Hugh, 2003. “Much ado about nothing by William Shakespeare”, Cambridge University Press McEachern, Claire Elizabeth, 2006. “Much ado about nothing by William Shakespeare”, Cengage learning, EMEA McGrail, Mary Ann, 2002. “Tyranny in Shakespeare”, Lexington Books Newman, Karen, 2002. “Fashioning femininity and English renaissance drama”, (Women in culture and society series), University of Chicago Press. Read More