Shakespeare's Representation of Women | D. W. Harding (essay date 1969)
D. W. Harding (essay date 1969)
SOURCE: "Women's Fantasy of Manhood: A Shakespearean Theme," in Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. XX, No. 3, Summer, 1969, pp. 245-53.
[In the following essay, Harding discusses Shakespeare 's presentation of females who usurp traditionally male roles.]
One scene in Macbeth has always troubled me—that between Lady Macduff and her son before the murderers arrive. The critics, too, have often felt it needed some apologia. For me its painful quality lies in the conflict between the trustful love and respect she has for her husband and her sense now that he has abandoned and failed her. For all the mockery and subtle overtones of the exchanges with her son, which give a curiously "modern" tone to the scene, it remains a cruel way to go to a terrified death. Our emotional state would have been altogether more comfortable if we had merely been told of the slaughter, as Macduff himself is told, and seen his...
[The entire page is 4789 words long]
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