Lady and Man Stereotyping “The raven himself is hoarse,” Lady Macbeth says, speaking of the atrocious act of murder she must commit. Lady Macbeth cannot simply go through with the act in her feminine state, so she calls to the spirits to make her more like a man, the seemingly more malicious sex. Through his own words, Shakespeare is able to tell a story from not only his point of view, but the view of his era. In the soliloquy spoken by Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 3, she is speaking of her paradigm of the stereotypes of men and women. She is calling the evil spirits to give her the evilness of men, and continues along the path of cliches.
The assumptions shown in the soliloquy is Shakespeare’s way of showing his readers, his audience, how men and women were perceived in his time. “Unsex me here,” says Lady Macbeth, the third line in of her soliloquy. This choice of diction of Shakespeare proves to be strong, and sets up the rest of the soliloquy. The difference of using “unsex” instead of “change” shows very good word choice for Shakespeare, and causes a difference in tone. The tone from the beginning is dark, with mentions of a “raven” and the “spirits”, however the simple word choice allows for the tone to continue.
The emotion shown in the darkness also conveys the anger that Lady Macbeth is feeling. With the word choice in the line, “Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” allows her anger to be shown along with the stereotypes. To unsex is to “Deprive of gender, sexuality, or the characteristic attributes or qualities of one or other sex” (dictionary. com), which in this case shows the stereotype of men being full of “direst cruelty” which the women lack. After asking to become more like a man, and less like a woman, as men are crueler, more is said about women. That no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it! ” She is wishing that no human compassion gets in her way, as for women it often does. This cacophonic statement talks not only of how compassion gets in the way for women, but also of how this does not occur for men. By using the word “nature”, Shakespeare brings up the idea of human nature. By previously talking of men as crueler, he is now making the connection between women and human nature. If human nature does not get in Lady Macbeth’s way, than she will have no trouble, and in order to avoid the compassion in human nature, he wishes herself as more a man. The disruption of rhythm in this line also sets a chaotic tone for the piece, as she is getting more desperate. To end her cry to the spirits, Lady Macbeth wishes that her knife is unseeable in the darkness, “Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, to cry, Hold, Hold. ” The syntax in proves to be important for Shakespeare, as in any other order, the personifications, metaphors, and the iambic pentameter would be disrupted. The personification of heaven allows the audience to draw a line between Lady Macbeth and her soon to be gone, heavenly state.
If her conscious is even momentarily shown through the darkness she wishes upon herself, she will not be able to go through with the deed of murder. In order to keep this small bit of light inside herself, she uses the “blanket of the dark,” which metaphorically speaking, is darkness that covers something, in this case, humanity or her feminine side. Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare juxtaposes Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth wishes for an evil side, for her masculine self to be shown. Macbeth, on the other hand, has the ability to find his manliness, however is too soft to handle it.
The paradigm shift that Lady Macbeth finds when she is “unsexed”, shows the tone of the story shifting darker, and the stereotype of women being softer to be changed through her actions. The choices in Shakespeare’s writing allow the audience to fully embrace and interpret the characters which are being showcased. Lady Macbeth would not be the same if she was without her dark tone that is shown through diction. Her motive would be unclear if not for the syntax displayed. Shakespeare’s ability as a writer allows for his characters and ideas to be fully heard, which shapes the way a reader thinks.
Author: Angel Bell