When Lady Macbeth becomes a Man: Subversion of Sexuality and Gender in Macbeth

Abstract

Problem of gender and sexuality is not an alien issue in the play of Shakespeare. Most of his romantic comedies witnessed the reversal of the gender role in order to create either a comical situation or to criticize the follies of the society. Rosalind in As You Like It, Viola in Twelfth Night, Portia in Merchant of Venice, Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra are the few examples of reversal of gender role employed by Shakespeare to create a dramatic situation but what always have arrested our minds is the continuous question against the gender and sex. Shakespeare never seems to believe in the conventional gender role in the society. In Macbeth, Shakespeare totally changed the archetypal symbols of masculine and feminine. Macbeth shows a reversal in gender roles. Shakespeare makes us see the conflict between feminine and masculine in the character of Lady Macbeth, as they are intimidated in the traditional cultural norms. Lady Macbeth consciously rejects her instincts toward empathy, compassion, motherhood, and tenderness — associated with femininity — in favor of ambition, ruthlessness, and a yearn for power. Shakespeare deconstructs gender through the speeches and bodies of both Lady Macbeth and the witches.