Author(s): Dr. Sarbani Sankar Panigrahi

Abstract: Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy deeply saturated with anxieties surrounding gender, power, and the instability of identity. The play’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters disrupts conventional early modern notions of femininity, positioning women as both the source and the threat of male ambition. Through acts of prophecy, persuasion, and defiance, these figures blur the boundaries between masculine authority and feminine transgression. This article employs a feminist-critical framework, supported by psychoanalytic and new historicist perspectives, to interrogate how Macbeth reimagines the feminine as a locus of power that is simultaneously subversive and contained. Lady Macbeth’s invocation to “unsex me here” and the witches’ manipulative prophecies illustrate how female voice and agency are rendered both potent and perilous within a patriarchal world order. Ultimately, the play’s resolution reasserts masculine control, yet the haunting presence of feminine power continues to destabilize that authority. By examining the intersections of prophecy, gender, and ambition, this study contributes to Shakespearean and feminist scholarship by illuminating Macbeth as a text that stages not only the fear of female dominance but also the persistent allure of feminine knowledge and autonomy.

Keywords: Macbeth, gender, power, prophecy, feminist criticism, Shakespearean tragedy

Article Info: Received: 09 Oct 2025; Received in revised form: 05 Nov 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025; Available online: 14 Nov 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.106.12