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How does Shakespeare present women in
this extract and elsewhere in the play?
Although Macbeth is retrospectively gothic, the
archetypal presentations of women as either victims or
predators remain. Lady Macbeth, who is a complex
character, is ostensibly both: she begins her time in the
play as a predator used to manipulate Macbeth and ends
as a victim, dying, we assume, by her own hand. Lady
Macduff has many of the traits of a victim and also dies.
However, she is an intelligent character who is aware of
her vulnerability. Shakespeare uses both characters to
subvert gender roles and highlight the dual roles of many
women in society, including Elizabeth I, as an example of