Painting Lady Macbeth as a Female Villain: Don’t Do Her Like That

Abstract

The crime of premeditated murder is at the heart of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. It is questionable how to speak about this crime and interpret her actions and motives in light of the given information presented in Shakespeare’s text. She seems to have a conscience. Shakespeare leads us to think that she commits suicide because she is so bothered by her heinous actions. Even though Lady Macbeth does not wield the murder weapon herself, she still has blood on her hands. Over the centuries actors have portrayed her as a co-conspirator or a wife who bewitched her husband. If the society at the time wanted to honor male dominance, then Lady Macbeth as an evil wife who is not submissive to King Duncan or her husband is the favored plot path. So echoing the narrative of male-dominance, Lady Macbeth could merely be labeled as an evil character. However, some have added the aspect of humanity behind the label of an evil woman. In various historical times, how Lady Macbeth was interpreted by actors depended on the cultural biases of the era and the kind of personal connection the actor made to the character. This essay looks at the differentiation in interpretation of this female character involved in criminal behavior concerning gender and biased attitudes of the historical time and of a sense of familiarity, or lack of, between the actor and essence of the character.