In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is Macbeth's wife and is one of the most famous characters in the play. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a stronger, crueler, and more ambitious person than Macbeth, especially when she questions his manhood. When he questions his manhood, Macbeth feels that he needed to prove that he is a man and that his masculinity should not be questioned. In a way this is her way of killing Duncan because she feels she can manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan and she doesn't want to be seen killing him because women are not portrayed as the murderous type. Lady Macbeth's role in the play is to be the character who portrays some of the social themes and images of that time about how a woman should or should not be. By creating a character like Lady Macbeth, the reader's views of masculinity and femininity are challenged. Even though Lady Macbeth seemed more ambitious and stronger than Macbeth, this contradicts the idea that men are more ambitious and stronger than women and many characters believe that women should be a kind character. It can be implied, without knowing the gender of the characters in the story, that Lady Macbeth would be a man in the play because she has a male humanity living in a woman's body. Even though she is ambitious like her husband, she is still a woman and at that time people thought that men could only be ambitious and use violence. When Macbeth says, “Breed men only sons/ For thy dauntless courage should compose/ Nothing but males” (Macbeth 1.7.83-85). This shows that Lady Macbeth is not seen as a violent and ambitious person and that their only manhood should be used to give birth to Macbeth's child. Lady Mac... middle of paper... men's hopes died and they were saddened by her death. It was their cry within women because they had lost hope of being able to be strong and ambitious. Throughout Macbeth, Lady Macbeth portrays both masculinity and femininity. She describes her ambition and power when she manipulates Macbeth to try to kill Duncan, a task she wanted to do but couldn't do because of women's social views. He showed his weakness by dying due to his guilt over Duncan's death, even though he didn't physically kill him. Even though she showed her masculinity, she showed that she is ultimately a woman and has feminine traits. Her purpose in the play is to be the character who portrays certain social themes and images about how a woman should act. By creating a character like Lady Macbeth, the reader's views of masculinity and femininity are challenged.