Comparing Villain In Macbeth And Great Expectations

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Question; compare the way Shakespeare and Dickens present female characters as villain in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘great expectations’. Intro: Both Shakespeare and Dickens present the villainous female characters in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘great expectations’ comparatively similar yet considerably contradictory. Lady Macbeth, the witches, Miss Havisham and Estella are all presented as strong, powerful and manipulative women and almost seem like feminist characters. They all seem to be trying to get some sort of either secretive, unknown or open revenge on the male species and on the hero of the play/novel. However, due to the fact that ‘Macbeth’ was written over 200 years earlier than ‘Great Expectations’, the punishments and fates for the female villains are…show more content…
They look ‘not like th’inhabitants o’th’earth’(1;3;38-39) which creates an image that they appear ‘unhuman’ and ‘supernatural’. They are also ‘So withered and so wild, in their attire’ which encourages the audience not to like these women. It also shows that they look quite old and unkempt and as though they are uncivilised. • Shakespeare depicts the witches as unfeminine by presenting them with male features, ‘you should be women,/And yet your beards forbid me to interpret/That you are so’(1;3;42-43) This would have been easier to portray in the Jacobean era because women were not allowed to act so men would have to play the roles of the witches. Ultimately, the audience would find that the witches are both intriguing and formidable and would see them as the villains of the play. Intro to Lady Macbeth: Shakespeare first depicts Lady Macbeth in Scene 5 when she receives the letter informing her about the witches and their prediction that Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor. Our first insight of her is that she is a cruel and, like the witches, masculine. It seems as though there is a trend in ‘Macbeth’ that characters that don’t appreciate their gender are the
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