Compare and Contrast the Roles of Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff Essay

In the play ‘Macbeth’ we notice that the roles of Lady Macbeth and Macduff are very different. In the one scene that Lady Macduff is in we see that she is portrayed as a stereotypical woman of the Jacobean era. She was defined principally as a mother, was reliant on her husband and helpless when he is absent. At the beginning of the play we see these properties in Lady Macbeth. However she specifically called on the ‘spirits’ to repress her femininity thus taking away these properties to make her ruthless enough to kill Duncan. I feel that both of the characters seem quite strong but in different ways. Lady Macduff copes fine without her husband but Lady Macbeth is strong in different way. In Act 1 Scene 5 we see the relationship that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had. It is noticeable that their relationship in this scene is much like that of what we would expect a couple of their era to be like. Lady Macbeth stays at home while the husband is out at work. We Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth we see the how strong their relationship is. I think is mainly because Lady Macbeth immediately understands the full implications of what was written in the letter and in a way her response is uncompromising. She will not let anything get in their way; her husband must get what he has been promised. It is also interesting that the letter written by Macbeth would mean he would have had complete trust in his wife. If the letter was shown to anybody else it interpreted as treasonous. It also suggests their affection and love for each other: â€Å"my dearest partner of greatness†.