Shakespeare's Macbeth is a male-dominated play. Most of the notable characters in Macbeth are men, including Macbeth, Macduff, Banquo, King Duncan, and Malcolm. Despite the lack of female power in numbers, Lady Macbeth proves to be a formidable force of influence. It achieves this by psychologically changing gender when the situation is more favorable to a particular sex. Each change in gender brings Lady Macbeth closer to what she thinks she wants. However, changing gender is a feat that requires immense mental strength and towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth's mental power diminishes with guilt and ultimately leads to an untimely death. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Lady Macbeth's first mental gender transformation occurs after she reads the letter Macbeth sent her and hears of King Duncan's planned visit. She begs the spirits in Act 1, Scene 5: "Come, you spirits // who occupy yourselves with mortal thoughts, desex me here, // And fill me from head to foot // With the most terrible cruelty! Make my blood thick. Lady Macbeth is aware that her intentions to murder King Duncan are not considered worthy of a lady. Therefore, she commands the spirits to "de-sex" her, or strip her of her female sex and replace it with one more suited to such sinister intentions, the male sex. She further emphasizes the mental change from woman to man by telling the spirits: “Come to my wife's breasts, // And take my milk for gall. » By asking that the spirits come to her "woman's breasts" and take her "milk for gall", her purely feminine, life-giving food is destroyed and replaced by the opposite. Now that Lady Macbeth has mentally changed her sex from female to male, she assumes the role that Macbeth would have to play if she did not consider him "too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively." Lady Macbeth uses her new gender psyche to intimidate Macbeth and trick his masculine ego into murdering King Duncan. For example, in Act 1, Scene 7, she argues with him: “What beast was not, // That made you entrust me with this business? // When you dared to do it, then you were a man; // And, to be more than what you were, you would be // Much more the man. Lady Macbeth uses her masculine mind to attack Macbeth's masculine ego. She says he was a man when he thought of murdering King Duncan, and if he does it, then he will be greater than a man; if not, what beast is it? Lady Macbeth assimilates so well to the male sex that even Macbeth alludes to it in Act 1, Scene 7: “Bring forth only men and children; // Because your unwavering courage should compose // Nothing but males. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that her fearless spirit is so like that of a man that her children should all be men. Although Lady Macbeth currently has the will to maintain her genderless disposition and masculine spirit, her mentality begins to decline noticeably as time passes. The first sign of Lady Macbeth's feminine conscience beginning to surface over her supposed heartless and evil masculine conscience is found in Act 2, Scene 2, when she confesses to herself: "If he hadn't looked like // my father in his sleep, I would not have looked like my father in his sleep. .” When Lady Macbeth mentally transformed from woman to man, she made sure in Act 1, Scene 5, to ask that the masculine side would be to "thicken my blood, // block the access and passage to remorse,/ / That no visit to theunscrupulous nature // Shakes my purpose, nor keeps peace between // The effect and that! However, by not killing King Duncan because he resembled her father, Lady Macbeth allows a "visit of nature's compunction", or a moment of regret from human nature, to influence her actions, revealing that his thick-blooded masculine spirit begins to thin and weaken. make room for her feminine consciousness. As Lady Macbeth's feminine consciousness begins to bubble to the surface of her mind, her words reflect this recasting in Act 3, Scene 2. Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth is not quite well and instead intimidates him , to tease or harass him as her “unsexed” self frequently did, she said: “Gentle my lord, // elegant on your sturdy look; // Be bright and jovial // Among your guests this evening. Lady Macbeth instead addresses Macbeth kindly, telling him that he should relax because she can see the effects of his constant worry through his "robust air." Macbeth replies: “Me too, my love. // And so, I pray for you. His response is the first time he calls Lady Macbeth "love" since the murder, revealing that it is the first time since the murder that Macbeth has considered Lady Macbeth a woman and his wife. Macbeth goes on to say that Lady Macbeth must flatter Banquo and "make our faces vizards to our hearts, // Disguise what they are", a tactic they both used against King Duncan before murdering him . However, Lady Macbeth's male doppelganger moves away and his wife begins to dominate, leading him to tell Macbeth, "You must leave that." » Lady Macbeth no longer has masculine brutality in her and she does not want to kill anyone else. Her feminine instincts are also apparent in Act 3, Scene 4 when Lady Macbeth remarks that Macbeth's worries will keep him awake and his feminine wife instincts will be triggered. As a result, she says to Macbeth, “You have not slept” after Macbeth tells her that he is going to see the witches again. Lady Macbeth returns to her feminine mentality and Macbeth is now a ruthless, thick-blooded man. Once she returns, Lady Macbeth's feminine mentality does not stay with her for long. Her guilt eventually shatters her feminine mentality, leaving her in a sexless, deranged state that causes her to sleepwalk. In act 5, scene 1, the doctor observing him comments: “Unnatural acts // Engender unnatural troubles: infected minds // On their deaf pillows will reveal their secrets. The secret was finally broken by Lady Macbeth and unknowingly escapes for the nurse and doctor to see. We don't hear anything more about Lady Macbeth for the rest of the play. The aggressive, thick-blooded tyrant no longer has manly boasts. The worried and worried wife no longer has feminine comforts. Her husband no longer pays her any attention. Lady Macbeth is now sexless, just a body of guilt, until death comes. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay At the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is a prominent woman with a respected husband who loves and recognizes her. Later, she mentally transforms into a man in order to be cold-hearted enough to assassinate King Duncan. Even though Lady Macbeth tries to keep her secret by being “genderless,” this secret keeps her guilty. The strong mentality that once made her a ruthless man diminishes until she returns to her female form. Ultimately, guilt dominates Lady Macbeth's female consciousness, and she becomes a sleepwalking performer acting out her guilt scenes until she is pronounced dead. Works Cited: American (1972)..