I would
suggest that Shakespeare does not so much use androgyny as, rather, allude to male and female
traits--in the way they are conventionally understood--as a means of explaining or clarifying
the motives and actions of his characters.
Lady 's famous wish to be
"unsexed" indicates that she herself believes that, as a woman, she doesn't have the
qualities required to plot or carry out a murder. Other things about her behavior suggests a
stereotyped femininity. She urgesto commit the murder ofrather than doing it herself. This is a
case of her using her "feminine wiles." But one could interpret the wish to see her
man become successful as a positive trait (though in this case severely misguided!) motivating
her rather than pure selfishness. However, in more than one scene she tries to humiliate Macbeth
by questioning his strength, his masculinity. When the ghost ofappears and Macbeth becomes
hysterical, she pointedly asks him, "Are you a man?" and then,
Oh,...
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