Just to be kool i have decided to post my english oral on macbeth on the internet so other kids around the world can steal it and use it as their own... enjoy...
Macbeth: Public Speech
By Sarah Knox
Good Morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to ‘Womenspace’. Today I will be talking to you about the representations of femininity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth; particularly Lady Macbeth and how her conduct in the play challenges the dominant discourses of her time regarding the role of women and Queen. The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare was first seen in 1606 to great acclaim. During this era Queen Elizabeth I and then her cousin King James I ruled Britain. At this time it was normal for men to play women characters in plays because of the law which restricted women from appearing on stage. This was just one of the laws which women were expected to follow. Today I will discuss how the average woman in Elizabethan and Jacobean times was expected to act and I will compare and contrast it with the conduct of Lady Macbeth. Regarding the role of the Queen, I will also discuss how Lady Macbeth’s usurping of the Scottish throne challenged the dominant discourses of the day. It is however a little ironic that Lady Macbeth was a brutal Queen, just as Elizabeth I was.
Women of the noble class had more rights then any other type of woman and were sometimes allowed the privilege of an education. The girls of Noble birth were invariably taught by tutors at home and Elizabethan women were taught from the age of five, or even younger. Various languages were taught including Latin, Italian, Greek and French. Music and dancing skills were essential for Elizabethan women. Elizabethan women were not allowed to go to university. The Elizabethan women who were commoners would not have attended school or received any formal type of education. Elizabethan women would have had to learn how to govern a household and become skilled in all housewifely duties. Her education would have been purely of the domestic nature in preparation for the only real career option for a girl - marriage! Single Elizabethan women were sometimes looked upon with suspicion. It was often the single women who were thought to be witches by their neighbours. All Elizabethan women would be expected to marry, and would be dependant on her male relatives throughout her life. Unmarried women might spend their life in a convent or nunnery but due to the dissolution of the monasteries this was no longer an option. The only alternative to marriage for Elizabethan women from the lower classes was therefore domestic service. The married state was seen as highly desirable by all women of the lower classes. With parental permission it was legal for Elizabethan girls to marry at 12 although it was not usual for marriages at such young ages. Lastly, the role of a woman in marriage was to bring a dowry. A dowry was an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage. It was also referred to as her marriage portion. After marriage Elizabethan women were expected to run the households and provide children. Large families were the norm as the mortality rate for children and babies was so high. Many Elizabethan women made arrangement for the care of their children in case they themselves died during childbirth.
As you can see the role of women was limited In the time that Shakespeare wrote his plays women possessed few political and private rights and this was even more so in the case of married women, who under English Law held no political power whatsoever. Male domination and female submission was the norm and the system of hierarchy assumed that of ruler and subject. Women were seen as ‘unsuited’ to rule over men. A woman was to remain silent, avoid political discussions and was to focus on duties within her husband’s household. Experts in this socio-historical field reveal that women were subjected to the will of men, as they were thought greater, morally, physically and intellectually. Characteristics that were admired in a woman were imagination, conscience, compassion and sensitivity.
Lady Macbeth did not follow these expected traits of a woman in Elizabethan society as she did not submit to her husband publicly as a political figure or privately as the head of the household. As a noblewoman it is highly likely that she would have received an education, which she would use, later in life to her advantage in gaining the throne for her husband. It can be said that Lady Macbeth was oblivious to the preordained rules of her time as she rarely obeys Macbeth, in particular, his plea for ‘peace’. She does not remain contented and ridicules her husbands compassion with assertion of her fear that Macbeth is ‘too full o’th’milk’ of human kindness. Lady Macbeth attempts to subvert her own femininity and succeeds in making Macbeth look submissive. She ignores her gender roles and constructs her own version of reality. Lady Macbeth discards her domestic and socially prescribed role, and prompts her husband to commit regicide in her own quest for political power. At that time, women could have no political power whatsoever, except through the ‘agency of a well placed husband’. Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to act on ‘their’ behalf so she could openly have the political power she desired. Lady Macbeth openly denies that a woman should be seen and not heard, should avoid discussing politics and remain focused on household duties. In fact in her most famous soliloquy she says “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty.” This shows how the representation of Lady Macbeth challenged the dominant discourses of her time regarding the role of women.
Regarding the role of the Queen in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth challenged the dominant discourses of her time, yet the brutality she exhibited in her reign was not unheard of. Elizabeth I was born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Although she entertained many marriage proposals and flirted incessantly, she never married nor had children. Indeed, she was known as the Virgin Queen. Elizabeth, the last of the Tudors, died at seventy years of age after a very successful forty-four year reign. Elizabeth inherited a tattered realm: dissension between Catholics and Protestants tore at the very foundation of society; the royal treasury had been bled dry by Mary, her half sister who had been in power for five years previously, and her advisors. Mary's loss of Calais left England with no continental possessions for the first time since the arrival of the Normans in 1066 and many, mainly Catholics doubted Elizabeth's claim to the throne. Elizabeth proved most calm and calculating, even though she had a horrendous temper, and in her political acumen, she employed capable and distinguished men to carry out royal prerogative. Queen Elizabeth I had been the Queen of England for forty-four years and had not married because, as an independent and dominant woman, she would not share her throne with a man. She would have been expected to show complete obedience to her husband if she had married and would only be Queen under her husband, the King. Queen Elizabeth died just three years before Macbeth was first seen and it is possible that she could have been inspiration for Lady Macbeth’s character. The Queen was not seen as a dependent or submissive woman at this time and so although Lady Macbeth’s short reign over Scotland was incredibly brutal it was not completely unheard of in Shakespearian times.
Lady Macbeth was, however a cunning and brutal Queen whose primary concern was keeping her husband, and therefore herself in power. In one moment of honesty Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth he is a coward. “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.” After Macbeth usurps power and Lady Macbeth becomes queen at his side, she does not hesitate and urges her husband onto the darker side. She displays great ambition, which was a highly masculine characteristic during Shakespeare’s life. She is portrayed as having strong masculine characteristics to the point of using her femininity to gain her ambitions and desires. Lady Macbeth commits suicide and leaves Macbeth completely deserted. She put up a ‘womanly defence’ and says that she has ‘done no harm’ and thus does not deserve to die. In the beginning Lady Macbeth showed strong masculine traits which are evident by her persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan. As the story continues, Macbeth’s greed for the crown makes Lady Macbeth turn to her feminie side and lose courage, thus ending in her suicide which challenged the dominant discourses of her time.
In conclusion, I have discussed how the different kinds of women would have been treated in Elizabethan times and how they were expected to submit to their husbands, if married. I have showed how Lady Macbeth challenged these dominant discourses, which at her time were the norm. Queen Elizabeth I was a very important figure in this time and by discussing her reign over England during Shakespeare’s life and comparing her conduct to that of Lady Macbeth, I have shown you how Shakespeare’s representation of Lady Macbeth challenged the dominant discourses of his time.
now.... isn't that just great... its at least an A-