Feminine Evil Depicted in Shakespeare's

King Lear and Macbeth

William Shakespeare's notoriety for creating memorable characters that are realistic as well as fantastical is demonstrated through his female characters in the tragic plays, King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare was obviously considering familial relations and reflecting on how to parents could produce children who are so starkly different from one another when he wrote King Lear. Additionally, by creating the ungracious, self-centered daughters, Goneril and Regan, the poet is also commenting on the fact that women could be as powerful and aspiring as men, which leaves them open to the possibility of being just as evil. King Lear's daughters were not subservient to their fathers and they certainly were not submissive housewives. This notion of the independent, aspiring woman is further emphasized in the calculating, power-hungry character of Lady Macbeth. The concept of a delicate, docile wife is thrown out the...
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