Macbeth - Behind every great man is a great woman??

Question

Do you think that this is true in Macbeth? and to what extent?

Answer 1

I would have to agree with Shakespear!!!

Answer 2

It depends on what you mean by "great". Lady Macbeth is certainly the catalyst for the string of evils that occur; she has Macbeth wrapped around her finger. However, when push comes to shove, her mind is much less apt in dealing with the evils that mark her. She goes insane and kills herself, where Macbeth is left to be slain- not free of guilt, but certainly more equipped mentally to deal with it. So while on the face of things Lady Macbeth appears stronger ("greater") she ends up weaker, lesser.

Answer 3

I don't find either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth to be "great". Maybe behind every wimpy male leader there is a power hungry insane wife.

Answer 4

It is hard to achieve greatness alone for man or woman. In Macbeth there is an evil woman and a henpecked wimp of a male. I see no greatness in the main characters

Answer 5

Oh yes! With the restriction that greatness means power, fanatizm, madness here. Macbeth's rise to power, his killing those who stay in his way is guided by the monstrous wife, from the background. But this is also the cause of his fall.

Answer 6

Yes... for every great artist there is the siren... and the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Conversely, behind an avaricious male is a vicious woman (a little sexist, mind) but then again... what would any man or woman won't do or will do for love?

Answer 7

For the folks who are referring to the character of Macbeth as "wimpy"...what play did YOU read?

"Macbeth" is (justly) regarded as one of the world's great tragedies in all of dramatic literature, and it's only so because Macbeth is such a dominant and powerful character.

It's easy and convenient to think of Macbeth and Lady M. as a strong COUPLE, but a careful examination of the play reveals that it just ain't so. Prior to the murder of Duncan, we only see them together twice: the first time, she's reading his letter from the field, and she prays for the strength to urge him to follow through with the murder plot that will make the witches' prophecy a reality. Macbeth enters, and they briefly formulate the murder plot.

The second time (Act I, scene vii), she finds him wavering in his resolve to do the crime, and she WORKS him until he gets back on track. Does this make her great? Well, as a tactician, I think you have to admire the various means she employs to get Macbeth back "on purpose." At that point in the play, it's clear that she has far fewer conscience issues than he does.

But...once the murder has been committed, the trouble between them starts almost immediately. He starts his inexorable descent into paranoia and further bloody acts, and she, deprived of the partner that might have allowed her to SHARE her terrible guilt, drifts off into madness and suicide. He starts keeping secrets from her, addresses her curtly and rudely, and -- worst of all -- ISOLATES her.

Neither of them got a shred of what they expected to get from the murder of Duncan.

Answer 8

I agree, every great man needs the support and love of a great women, someone to keep his head on his shoulders and support him and occasionally point him in the right direction.

Answer 9

They are great in the sense of powerfull but no other way