Lady Macbeth - Symbolism of What?
1. Green Snake
First, she is like a green snake in the grass. This implies that it is difficult for people to see her for who she really is or to see her true colors. She is a manipulative and conniving woman. Her cunning, crafty, manipulative and sly nature likens her to a snake. Her hunger for power leads her to manipulate her husband into killing King Duncan and committing many other murders. She appears to be a nice lady but uses tricks and manipulation to have her way with almost everything. She also appears to love her husband but always gets him to do evil.
2. Masculinity
Lady Macbeth is also a symbol of masculinity hidden in a female body. She symbolizes the power that women have that usually goes unnoticed. It is generally expected that men should be the ones to commit atrocities and perpetuate cruelty, war, and death. However, Macbeth is uncomfortable with doing all these evil deeds until he is pushed into them by his wife. He still feels guilty even after doing them. Macbeth shows that what men can do, women can do even better. She appears stronger than her husband when she is the driving force behind his evil deeds. Her husband even feels that she is more of a man trapped in a woman’s body.
3. Misogyny
Misogyny is also another symbol carried by Lady Macbeth. She invokes hate for women when she proves that they cannot be trusted to do anything well. By manipulating her husband into doing evil, she shows that women are eviler than men. She makes people have mistrust towards women because of her evil character. She makes people fear women because they can do anything to make men do bad things. Macbeth appears to loathe evil but is driven into it with a lot of ease by Lady Macbeth. Her character symbolizes the fact that women cannot be trusted and advances the notion that they are eviler than men.
4. Power of the sexuality
Lady Macbeth also symbolizes the power of the sexuality of women. She uses her charm as a woman to get her husband to do whatever she wants. She even questions her husband’s masculinity when he is afraid of killing King Duncan. She manipulates her husband into thinking that he will be seen more of a man if he kills Duncan and takes over power. Even though Macbeth is reluctant to do it at first, he ends up giving in to the power of a woman’s sexuality. She also symbolizes weakness and lack of having one stand among women when the guilt from her evil deeds gets the best of her. She cannot handle all the blood in her hands and decides to commit suicide. If she were strong-willed as she portrayed herself to be, she would easily live with the consequences of her actions. Lastly, through her evil deeds, Lady Macbeth is a symbol of death, destruction, disorder, manipulation, unchecked ambition and cruelty.