Explore hiw Shakespeare presents marriage in this extract?
Shakespeare seems to connote a subversion of gender roles which has consequently lead to the inevitable demise of their marriage but, more importantly their lives. Whilst we would expect Macbeth to be presented as a salient, Shakespeare allows Lady Macbeth to take charge of their relationship leading to Macbeth feeling very submissive. Lady Macbeth is seen to insult Macbeth's "coward[ness] in thine esteem" which alludes that Macbeth is fearful of comitting the "deed"The noun" coward" has connotations of fear and this has clearly been instilled in Macbeth for the majority of the play. Moreover, a contemporary audience would be confused as it was very unusual for a male in the Jacobean Era to be humiliated by a women and therefore questions the compatibility of their relationship. Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth to highlight that their should be a sense of equality in a relationship. However, it also advocates that the more dominant the woman is the more it can effect their relationship and we see that this is foreshadowed later on in the play where ambition leads to the harmartia of the character and ultimately their relationship. This however, leads to a contemporary audience feeling a sense of cartharsis.
Only did one paragraph as I didn't know if I was doing it right
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