Birdyline Book Blog

Lady Macbeth is hailed as a character who defies gender roles and the patriarchy, but is actually nothing of the sort, as her ideas of masculinity and the role she chooses to play prove her the opposite. In fact, Lady Macbeth upholds the patriarchy and encourages stereotypical gender roles. Her reaction to the letter when her husband tells her he is apparently destined for greatness is used as proof that she cares for “manly” matters such as politics and power. (Keeping historical context in mind.) However, this is not the case because she neither wants to nor decides to step out of her role as a woman in response to the letter. Yes, she comes up with a plan to kill the king, Duncan, in order to replace him with her husband. However, she is surprised when Macbeth is not as enthusiastic about killing Duncan as she herself is. It is almost as if she comes up with the entire plan assuming that her husband, as a man, will have already thought of it. She calls him out and tells him that he is not a real man if he does not follow the plan. She scolds that “when you durst do it… then you were a man.” While confident in her scheme, she never considers it to be something she had to do herself. Her manhood is not threatened by the act or lack thereof, because she, obviously, is not a man. She is content in her assistant role  as a female.  

Throughout the activation of the plan, Lady Macbeth sees herself as the woman of the house and nothing more. When Macbeth is reluctant, she most boldly declares that if she had sworn to commit an act like this she would kill her own baby by plucking “my nipple from his boneless gums and dash[ing] the brains out.” Many have used this vow to paint her as a psychopathically violent woman, but what can really be gathered by this statement is that she is separated in her mind from Macbeth’s intentions. She identifies as a mother, not a murderess. Again, she is not defying any gender roles. Even the hypothetical example she presents to him is particularly feminine, depicting herself nursing a child. 

The later acts of the play show a different, less masculine side of Lady Macbeth’s character. She is not as important after Duncan and the guards’ murder, because Macbeth makes his decisions largely on his own. When she attempts to get a glimpse into what is going on, her husband takes the charge and instructs her to “be innocent of the knowledge,” and as far as we are told, Lady Macbeth accepts it. While a reader who read only the first act could, perhaps, point to Lady Macbeth “wearing the pants” in the relationship, this is not the case later on in the story. More likely her somewhat unique independence and ambition comes from being in charge of their entire castle when Macbeth is gone. Just because she is not a weak and helpless woman doesn’t mean she is some sort of patriarchy-smashing hero. She does have an important responsibility as a caretaker and that gives her a voice that she does not hesitate to use with her husband… but being a caretaker tends to be a female role.

One final important note is one of historical context. While Shakespeare would absolutely write a somewhat untypical female into his play, he would not write one that went completely outside of the time period’s expectations. Even the witches exemplify a female stereotype and do not break any historical boundaries. Lady Macbeth is important because of her relation to the main character, but she is also not an anomaly. She fits into the patriarchy quite nicely. Macbeth of course would not have married a woman who wasn’t capable of running the camp when he was away fighting. This role mimics people with power even today. Lady Macbeth is like a male politician’s wife in the modern age. Their role is of supporting their husband and his political endeavors and sometimes supporting causes of their own while under his umbrella. Lady Macbeth’s behavior and role is one of an average woman in her position, not gender-role defying at all.