TheTragedyofaPatriarchalAngel：OnLadyMacbeth’sSubmissiontoPatriarchyinMacbeth

黄琳

【Abstract】William Shakespeare （1564-1616），as Ben Jonson assured us，is “not of an age but for all time”.Macbeth，one of William Shakespeares most important plays，is much favored by critics for its representation of the female character Lady Macbeth who is usually regarded as the “fiend-like Queen” or a super witch by Goethe.Nevertheless，other critics like Christina Leon Alfar asserted in her article “Blood will have blood： Power，Performance，and the Trouble with Gender” believe that Lady Macbeth represented gender stereotyping.Therefore，in this essay，she is represented as a perfect wife，“The Angel in the House”，and the “Other” in mens world ______________。【Key words】feminist criticism； Lady Macbeth； angel； patriarchy； tragedy

Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex argues that “women has been denied full humanity，denied the human right to create，to invent，to go beyond mere living to find a meaning for life in projects of ever-widening scope…woman，on the other hand，is always and archetypally Other.She is seen by and for men，always the object and never subject”（qtd.in Walters 98）.Because women are generally believed to be less rational than men，they are deemed to need male protection.Nevertheless “a womans identity is subsumed under that of her male protector” （Traub 130）.One of Lady Macbeths protectors is her husband whose omnipresent influence renders her a slave to and a shadow of him.She is even deprived of her own identity.Her name cannot be known throughout the whole play，except her title as Lady Macbeth and her status as Macbeths wife.It is great distress that women are placed in an inferior position.

Women were demanded to serve man just like “The Angel in the House” who is “intensely sympathetic”，“immensely charming”，and “utterly unselfish” （Woolf 2007）.As a hostess，Lady Macbeth is required to excel in “the difficult arts of family life” （2007）.She must serve her male guests wholeheartedly just as the king Duncan instructs her

How you shall bid God yield us for your pains，And thank us for your trouble.（I.vi.12-3）.

The king is so satisfied with her hospitality that he praises her as the “most kind hostess” （II.i.16）.Just as “Balzac illustrates this maneuver very well in counseling man to treat her as a slave while persuading her that she is a queen” （Beauvoir 148），Lady Macbeth is admired and praised by men as a satisfactory hostess while she is indeed a slave of patriarchy.Being the “Other” in the world of men，she is “but a feeble instrument in the hands of Providence” （Ellis 1640）.

Jane Tompkins remarks in “Me and My Shadow” that the world contains no women for they are viewed as mere extensions by men.Likewise Lady Macbeth is the shadow of her husband，speaking on behalf of her husbands ambition and desire.She is a perfect wife cultivated by patriarchy and acts as the “Other” in the world of men.Through the tragedy of Lady Macbeth，a deep insight into the conditions and position of patriarchal women can be gained： Lady Macbeth symbolizes all the patriarchal women who are shaped to be “Angel” and destructed as “Angel”.

References：

[1]Beauvoir，Simone de.“The Second Sex.”An Integrated English Course（8）.gen.ed.He Zhaoxiong.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2008.

[2]Bradley，A.C.Shakespearean Tragedy.New York： Macmillan and Co.，1991.

[3]Traub，Valerie.“Gender and Sexuality in Shakespeare.”The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare.ed.Margreta De Grazia&Stanley Wells.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language education Press，2003.

[4]Walters，Margaret.Feminism.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2008.

[5]Woolf，Virginia.“Professions for Women.”The Norton Anthology of English Literature.Vol.2.New York & London： W.W.Norton & Company，Inc.，1986.2006-10.