Macbeth

Brains over Brawn
By,
Max Hummel

How did a once normal woman turn into an invidious and manipulative person? In William Shakespeares’ Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s manipulation is the catalyst that gets the story rolling. Her dominance over Macbeth illustrates the theme, gender equal power. By undermining his weaknesses and usurping his masculinity, Lady Macbeth effectively facilitates a shift in power; the masculine loses its domination as Macbeth falls prey to Lady’s Macbeth’s abusive ways. Her ruthlessness ultimately brings about both Macbeth’s downfall and his transformation into a monster as he resorts to violence to prove his masculinity. This manipulation is illustrated when Lady Macbeth coerces Macbeth to kill Duncan. This single event has collateral damage throughout the rest of the story finally causing Macbeth’s demise.

In the opening of the play, Lady Macbeth acts as an extremely manipulative individual who essentially controls her husband's actions. This is evident through the plot and ultimately the death of King Duncan. From the beginning, as soon as she has word of the witches’ prophecies, she starts plotting Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth targets Macbeth’s weak mind and his lack of initiative, “Art thou afraid to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would. (3.7.35-44)” Through intimidation and criticism , Lady Macbeth orchestrated Macbeth’s transformation into a monster. Initially Macbeth was portrayed as a noble person and an independent thinker. He was a loyal subject of Duncan and a friend to Banquo. However, his desire to be king proved to be another flaw that Lady Macbeth exploited. His ambition was his downfall as he would do anything, including committing murder, to become king. In essence, the quote introduces a pivotal theme of the play: the relationship between gender and violence. It infers that men use violence to measure their masculinity. Lady Macbeth’s manipulation stemmed from her desire to gain power. Macbeth was her puppet in this quest, easily persuaded to commit murder to prove his masculinity. Lady Macbeth insulted her husband’s manhood stating : "What beast was't then, 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...( 3.7.52-59).” Macbeth felt the need to carry out the assassination of Duncan or else he would look weak. After he killed Duncan, a chain of events occured causing Macbeth to make further damaging decisions- killing Banquo and Macduff’s family. Macbeth would never have killed his fellow kinsmen or his comrade’s family if Lady Macbeth had not coerced him. Again, these actions reinforce that idea that men commit violent acts to prove their masculinity. Furthermore, these muderous acts facilitated both Lady Macbeth’s rise in power and Macbeth’s downfall. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth held all the cards. She guilessly manuevered behind the scenes, manipulating Macbeth in order to achieve power. There is far more to Lady Macbeth than what is initially portayed. Instead of being a pleasant woman, she is actually malevolent and ambitious, traits usually associated with manliness. Her ambition was greater than Macbeth’s, and she effectively manipulated him by appealing to his masculine need for power. She used her knowledge of how Macbeth thinks and his lack of enterprise to convince him to kill Duncan and take the title of king. Shakespeare alludes that the roots of Lady Macbeth’s manipulation stems from her idea that masculinity holds all her power; so if Macbeth were to become king, she would have to exert her influence over Macbeth. In the end, however, Lady Macbeth was a victim of her own ambition and yearning for power; she was not man enough to live with the guilt.