Macbeth Gender Roles

There are more than enough examples from Macbeth and Great Expectations to prove that “subversion of gender roles,” a term that describes someone acting in a way that is not expected from those of their said gender, is evident in both writing pieces. There are a number of connections between the women of the play and novel; this can be seen in their stern, powerful and leader-like and always changing personalities that a number of female characters share. For instance, Miss Havisham’s burning hatred for men that she implemented into Estella's mind, to Lady Macbeth’s level of ambition to have her husband become king. Others include similarities in levels of knowledge, even though they were considered “commoners” on a part of the social ladder
Joe of Great Expectations is portrayed as a woman with a fairly short temper who did not have time to tolerate any nonsense from anyone, and Lady Macbeth of Macbeth as a woman who was kind to everyone she met, and was a force to be reckoned with while in closed doors. These two hardened women were both people of a more harsher time, where a so called “manly,” rough and tough personality (which, they both definitely have), was needed in order to survive. Neither of them were afraid to put up a fight. For example, with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s argument after he starts showing signs of wanting to back out of the plan to murder King Duncan, she brings up the fact that she would be willing to kill a baby the same way he said that he would kill King Duncan. Also, the scene in Great Expectations, when Mrs. Joe gets into a shouting argument with a co-worker of her husband named Orlick and has to get Joe to defend her and gets him to quickly beat him up in a match. This helps explain why Lady Macbeth and Mrs. Joe are sometimes considered the “men of the house,” or the “ones who wears the pants in their relationships,” which is usually expected of the man in the relationship, which becomes much clearer why this is once the behaviour of the men in the two relationships is
It is also an important factor to many elements in Great Expectations, such as Pip’s story and character, Estella’s personality and future relationship with Pip, and so on. She does not have the best relationship with men, which stemmed from the man who she was supposed to marry but quickly he took off on their wedding money once he got a hold of her money, and this tore her apart. Based on her experiences, she thought it would be a good idea to raise her adopted daughter, Estella, in seclusion and to have a cold heart that cannot love. She was soon proved wrong, once Estella grew up and became aware of how Miss Havisham was treating her all these years. She also thought it was a good idea to trick Pip into thinking that she was his benefact, making him believe that she plans on having him marry Estella. But, again, was proved wrong, once Pip found out about about her plans. And they were anything but forgiving to Miss Havisham when they found out about what she’s been doing to them for all those years. She feels horrible and guilty for what she’s done, tries to get Pip to forgive her, and is engulfed in flames by a nearby lit fire. She later dies without being able to really redeem herself, like Lady Macbeth. The amount of stress Miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth had to deal with throughout, led them to do a number of things that they immediately