Lady Macbeth; a liberated woman?

The question of Lady Macbeth's degree of liberation may be seen from two opposing viewpoints. If we define a liberated woman as one who has foind her iwn strength one who is able to function independently of the traditional subserviaent roles Lady Macbeth does not fit. She defines herself and is defined by others as a wife to macbeth. Yer ambitions are for him and she willingly places herself in a secondary positioon in their relationship. She acknowledges his primary social posotion and his superior physical strength and does not attempt to compete with him.

she functions flawlessly as the woman of the house the mistress  the mistres sof the castle the hostess. On the other hand a case could be made for the fact that lady macbeth struggles with what she defines as her own feminine nature's weaknesses and overcomes that weakness long enough to participate in the bloody murders. We first meet lady macbeth as ahe reads news of the witches prophecies with a grim determination she resolves to make the promises true. Her motivation is clealry her husband's hesitant nature.

Realizing that she will have to be the prime mover of the plot to murder duncan lady macbeth prayers for the spirits to unsex her to be given freedom from any interference by her natural feminine gentility. She renounces compunction and remorse whihc she recognizes to be her own natural responses. Ironically however after the murder it is the seemingly steelitnatured lady macbeth who beigns to capitulate to the first onslaughts of an uneasy conscince

As the play progresses it becomes more and more clear that Lady Macbeth is not able to put aside the natural feminie components of her psyche. She errs it seems in defining her delicacy in such matters as weakness. she is clealry not a liberated woman because she feels that in order to be strong she must deny her womanhood. Uable to reconcile her own ambivalence she moves in a steady progression to those fateful moments of insanity which led to her death. she first fears madness and then experiences overwhelming guilt.

In the banquet scene where…