Dominant Female Characters

Most recently we examined Coriolanus' mother Volumnia as a strong mother figure. She wants her son to go out and fight, kill and conquer. This mentality pushes Rome into masculine overkill. Due to the help/control of his mother, Coriolanus, has become the ultimate masculine character. Rome is overly protective of its masculine identity and Volumnia threatens this identity. Rome finds itself in a state of hysteria by trying to be protective of its masculine identity. But manliness of state is ALWAYS underlined by women! Women play the role of making the state. Volumnia oversees the masculinity of Coriolanus. Volumnia wants Coriolanus to kill but no matter how much he does, this will never change the gender of Volumnia.

Lady Macbeth is another dominant character. She takes charge and manipulates Macbeth underlining her ultimate power. She wants to stop her female biology, wants to stop her blood flow. She is linked to the three witches and resides in the same standing as them. Ultimately, the lay is tragic for both Lady Macbeth & Macbeth. She realizes that her tragedy is not the guilt of murder but her "unsex" moment did not work-she thought her ultimate power would work. The blood on her hands is female blood and she realizes that she is female-her guilt comes from being a woman! Act 1. Scene 5 highlights her femininity. As she reads the letter from Macbeth, this is the first time that she speaks in the play, but she is not actually speaking her own words-they are Macbeth's words, a man, which underscores the fact that she is just a woman. Her power does not come from within, rather it is due to the male figure of Macbeth that she hides behind.

Obviously, there are more characters, like Cleopatra and the daughters of King Lear, Regan & Goneril, that can also be placed in this category but, Volumnia & Lady Macbeth are two of my favorite overly masculine women!


Danielle Moyer
Discussion 1C-Aaron Gorelik