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Lady Macbeth's Refusal Of Gender Identity

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Lady (of) Macbeth

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the presence of power declares a condition where gender holds a superior position to that of political status.

Overcome with murderous rage, Lady Macbeth’s refusal of her gender identity, “Unsex me here,/ and fill me...[with] direst cruelty”, grants her the ability to act in a way that is considered both ruthless and respected among men, suggesting the difference between the actions of women and men as well as the difference in seriousness taken as a result of action from either gender(1.5.48-50). Without the presence of a stigma relating to gender throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has no reason to declare her disconnect with her feminine identity. However, the idea that gender makes one inferior

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