Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous and frightening characters. In the beginning of the play, she is a stronger, more ambitious, and more ruthless person than her husband, Macbeth (sparknotes). She knows her strengths and ability to influence Macbeth, and she uses them when she can. Unlike many of the women of her time period, Lady Macbeth acts more dominant and masculine. The gender roles of her and Macbeth's relationship are switched by the power she holds over Macbeth. Macbeth implies she has a masculine sole in her female body. Her ambition and tendency for violence implies she has a masculine personality. Lady Macbeth is a strong female character, ambitious, and slightly insane. .
During the time period Shakespeare wrote Macbeth women were uneducated, forced to act submissively, and keep their opinions to themselves (Wilson's).Shakespeare has used several women with powerful roles in his plays. He gives them the power to move the plot along. The witches and Lady Macbeth hold this power. These female characters call into question what it means to be a man. Lady Macbeth cries out, "Come, you spirits That tend on moral thoughts unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe topful Of direst cruelty!" (Act 1. Scene 5. lines 43-46). When Banquo and Macbeth meet the witches he says, "you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so" (Act 1. Scene 3. 46 - 48). The witches are wearing dresses, but they have beards. They carry characteristics of both the sexes, a part of their weirdness. The play implies women can be just as ambitious and cruel as men, but society doesn't allow them to pursue these desires on their own. .
Lady Macbeth as her own opinion on how women should behave. When we first meet her, in the play, She receives a letter from Macbeth. It states he been promoted to Thane of Cawdor, and his encounter with the witches.
