Throughout both ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Macbeth’ surroundings are used to influence and define Miss Havisham’s and Lady Macbeth’s characteristics. These surroundings are not only physical, but also psychological; found in their relationships and trauma from past events. Although both women are presented in different forms
Lady Macbeth is also strongly influenced by her physical surroundings. Like Miss Havisham, her home is metaphorical of her characteristics. She lives in a great castle from which we never see her leave. Like the castle she first comes across as strong, powerful and intimidating with strong walls, yet we later see these crumble and leave her as nothing but a wreck of what she used to be. The castle also lures King…show more content… She is quite the opposite of this as a mad spinster, but is left to her own devices due to her wealth and power
Throughout Macbeth we see Lady Macbeth change from a foreboding, deeply ambitious and manipulative women, to a regretful and guilt ridden soul. This change creates a sense of sympathy in the eyes of the audience as it is her own actions which lead to her ultimate demise.
Unlike Miss Havisham, Lady Macbeth is married and is perceived by outsiders as a typical loyal wife. However, within her relationship it can be seen that she has also rebelled from expectations. In Lady Macbeth's mind being a woman is a great weakness; she construes femininity as compassion and kindness, preventing her from ever being as powerful as a man. She labels her husband as "too full o' the milk of human kindness," to commit treason, and for this reason she calls on the spirits to “unsex” her and “Stop up the access and passage to remorse”, as she thinks this will allow her to carry out acts of evil. She also manipulates Macbeth into doing what she wants: ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man’. This shows that she knows how to use what could be seen as the female method of achieving power, this being manipulation, to further her supposedly male ambitions.
This position of power can again be seen in the use of imperative verbs when she talks to Macbeth: ‘look like the innocent
