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Feminism in Macbeth and Antigone

 

Instead, she stands up and proclaims to the supernatural forces to fill her up with the sinister, evil qualities that would make her plot against King Duncan. She even openly "orders" the supernatural forces to "unsex her", as if she could not reconcile her malevolent, evil intentions with the fact that she was a woman. Yet she still goes on to proclaim her iconoclastic notions: "Make thick my blood. Stop up th' access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purposeCome to my woman's breasts And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers," (Macbeth, I, v, 50-55) This time, Lady Macbeth not only acknowledges her malevolent convictions, but desires her blood to be saturated with murderous agents to the extent that none of the natural, stereotypical "womanly feelings", or "compunctious visitings of nature" will be left to hinder her from committing her evil deeds. She sways Macbeth out of feeling sympathy for Duncan, mitigates his regret in killing such a great king, and entices him to take further action to maintain his power as king. If it weren't for Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would never have the true sinister, villainous conviction, nor the courage to commit such acts. This makes her the radical, polar opposite of the stereotypical tender, loving, and fragile woman. Sophocles' counterexample against the conventional biases of women being tender and loving is the main character Antigone in his play, Antigone. When it comes to giving her brother Polynices a proper burial, Antigone will stop at nothing. "I will bury him myself. And even if I die in the act, that death will be a glory an outrage sacred to the gods! I have longer to please the dead than to please the living here" (Antigone, 85-89). While Lady Macbeth possessed the darkest traits of the most wicked villain, Antigone stands out with her noble, courageous, confident attitude-traits that define a male hero.


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