She-villain in Shakespeare's Tragedies

<p>William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in English language the<br>world has ever seen. He is also called the “Bird of Avon” as he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon,<br>Warwickshire, United Kingdom. He wrote around fifty plays. Among these, his ten plays fall into<br>the category of tragedy- Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear,<br>Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, and Titus Andronicus. It is found that male<br>characters play the dominant figure in his tragic plays. But this article will try to explore the role of<br>female characters in Shakespeare’s tragic plays as “she-villain”. For example, probably the most<br>femme fatale of all, Lady Macbeth is ambitious and manipulative and convinces her husband to<br>kill King Duncan in order to usurp the throne. She attacks her husband’s masculinity as he shows<br>conscience about killing the king and urges him on to commit regicide. This leads to Macbeth’s<br>own downfall and eventually racked with guilt, Lady Macbeth takes her own life in a fit of<br>madness. In Hamlet, it is Gertrude’s conspiracy that leads to the murder of her husband, King<br>Hamlet and her quickness in marriage with Claudius raises doubt in her son’s mind that causes<br>Prince Hamlet to think of her mother as a traitor. In King Lear, Goneril and Regan show false love<br>to their father King Lear and carry out all the evil activities to have their desire fulfilled. Thus,<br>these female characters play the role of “she-villain” in an appropriate way to bring about the death<br>and destruction of the heroes as well as theirs too.</p>