This is a concise but detailed Level 9 essay plan outlining an introduction, 3 paragraphs & a conclusion in answer to questions about the power of women in Macbeth; there are key quotes & nuanced AO3 contextual links in each paragraph.
Q. How does Shakespeare present the power of women in ‘Macbeth’?
Thesis:
G: contemporary views - women = meek & submissive, prone to hysteria
S: macbeth = women have deceptive power over men
T: subversion of typical femininity in female characters supports biblical reading
of inherent manipulation. alternatively, LM’s eventual madness conforms to
Humoral theory of women as mentally weak
Para 1:
at outset of play, women immediately have unnatural, malign power = inherent evil.
➔ Witches have synonymous links to evil and the supernatural, the unnatural and
presented as agents of chaos
◆ ‘In thunder, lightning, or in rain?’ = pathetic fallacy, foreboding; links to
supernatural & chaos
◆ ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ = chiasmus, paradox, foreshadowing; corrupt,
manipulative intentions.
➔ Macbeth echoing the witches’ language in his opening line – ties him to their evil
immediately ·
◆ ‘so fair and foul a day I have not seen’ = paradox; immediate subliminally
under malign female influence, contrasts to Renaissance humanist man
as controlled by reason
➔ The unnatural physical description of the witches sets them as otherworldly
◆ ‘so wither’d and so wild in their attire’ = witches linked to wildness as
opposed to humanity
◆ ‘and yet your beards forbid me to interpret/that you are so’ = women as
androgynous bodies, physically unfeminine, challenges male physical
power.
➔ Forceful assertions of LM once Macbeth enters illustrate her unconventional
dominance of her husband
◆ imperatives - ‘hie thee hither’, ‘come, you spirits’, ‘unsex me here’ = LM as
domineering, controlling
◆ ‘look like th’ innocent flower,/but be the serpent under’t’ = biblical imagery
aligns LM w tempting snake > also embodies sin of all women; LM’s initial
manipulative power
Para 2:
as the play progresses, Macbeth as representing the dangers of being corrupted by the
female influence = women as opposite to humanist ideals.
➔ Macbeth as using language that increasingly reflects the female influence in the
play
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