Feminist Study of Lady Macbeth

As one of the four great tragedies written by the world’s literary giant Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth (1606) has attracted a lot of literary critics. Thus, Lady Macbeth as the most prominent female character in the play, should have been highly discussed. However, scholars at home and abroad have focused on the social background of the play, the tragic image of Macbeth and the supernatural and bloody images in the play. Little domestic research of Lady Macbeth from the feminist criticism can be found. This thesis therefore aims to use traditional feminist criticism as a theoretical basis and the play as an analytical text to study the image of Lady Macbeth. This thesis draws inspiration from feminist Shakespearean criticism and follow its research perspective and methodology to give a new interpretation of Lady Macbeth.