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A virtuous woman is documented as one who “brings joy to her husband and is a lasting peace into his old age.” She is intended to be more than simply a charming partner. She is to protect her womanly virtues so as to also, in turn, protect man’s as well. When first introduced to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, one may easily overlook the important roles of the women throughout the play. Of course, one does not think of the play without the image of the “weird sisters” coming to mind.
The opening scene takes place during a thunderstorm in the woods. Three witches set an eerie tone as they gather around a black cauldron in expectation of Macbeth. These women are truly hags and not some twisted new idea of a “good witch.” They lack all natural feminine qualities and dabble in conversation with the devil. When Macbeth does approach, they greet him as the future king. This prophecy initiates his next course of action as he quickly shares the good news with his wife, knowing that she would be pleased to hear of his fortune. Macbeth often returns to the witches to ask questions about what is to come, and they consult the evil spirit, predicting that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth.
Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.
He confidently takes this prophecy to mean that he is invincible. This confidence emboldens his future actions.
The most striking of the play’s lady leads is the main character’s wife. In her, we see that a woman’s whims can be a dangerous thing because, if a man loves her, he will do anything in his power to please her. We meet Lady Macbeth for the first time after she receives the news from her husband that he is riding his lucky star and that she will enjoy his fortune as queen.
These weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with ‘Hail, king that shall be!’ This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee.
Instead of allowing events to unfold naturally, Lady Macbeth takes things into her own hands and invites the current king and his two sons to a banquet. Before taking serious action against the king, she invokes the same evil spirit with whom the witches converse, asking it to “unsex” her and remove all her naturally inclined virtues of goodness and fill her with the required ruthlessness to carry out her scheme.
Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!
After this bizarre invocation, she says that she is resolute enough that if asked to dash her own child’s head and spill its brains out, she would do it. A character would later call her “a fiend-like queen.”
When Macbeth resists her plan of murdering the royal family, she manipulates his love for her and claims that if he truly loves her, he will do as she wishes. She expresses her disgust at what she considers his cowardice and tells him that he is less than a man. Her influence is proven supreme and her displeasure is revoked when he finally agrees. Notice here that first Macbeth wishes to make her happy by sharing the good news of the witches’ prediction, and then he will do anything to regain her favor after refusing to make the prediction come about. After he murders the royal family in their sleep, Macbeth confesses to her his sense of fear and guilt over what he has done. Her reply is only that he behaved like a child and is infirm of purpose.
It is predictable that Lady Macbeth takes her own life eventually, driven by guilt and despair. One who sees her in her last hours remarks,
Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.
At this point, Macbeth, on the other hand, is too deep into the tragedy his wife has orchestrated to turn back.
In the final act of the drama, we are introduced to the memory of the unsung heroine. An old acquaintance of Macbeth’s, exhausted by the latter’s tyrannical behavior and his forceful use of power, decides that enough is enough, and Macbeth must be stopped. Macduff challenges Macbeth, and the king scorns his admirable resistance.
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.
Macduff proclaims the tyrant’s downfall by announcing, “Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d.”
The important fact here is that Macduff was not born naturally. The details of this birth are unclear, but the audience may assume that his mother was in a situation that required personal sacrifice, perhaps even giving her life so that her son might live. While not a prominent woman in the story, she is the only woman presented as performing her natural duties. Though mentioned in only one line, she is immediately summarized as a woman of honor. Her sacrificing actions are a direct hand in Macbeth’s downfall. While yet an unnamed character, the mother of Macduff and Lady Macbeth stand as stark contrasts to each other. One gives of herself while the other takes all for herself.