'Macbeth' is essentially a tragedy of ambition that presents a male world of war, murder, conspiracy and violence. Women and all that is traditionally believed to be feminine seem heavily marginalised in the Macbeth world of moral topsy-turvy. Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff are the two women portrayed as foils to each other: Lady Macbeth sacrificing her female self to stand by her ambitious husband's side and Lady Macduff sacrificing her life in the hands of killers commissioned by Macbeth and still holding on to her identity of an innocent wife & a caring mother. Macbeth's 'vaulting ambition' flared up by the Witches' prophecy leads to Lady Macbeth's unwomanly cruelty and her assumption of the powers of evil. She chooses to step into the shady world of villainy, secrecy, conspiracy & lust for power. She suffers from psychological crises leading to somnambulism and suicidal death. She is, indeed, a victim of circumstances.Lady Macduff appears in only one scene and she dies an unnatural death.
We have three witches and their queen Hecate. The queen and her uncanny followers remain objects of supernatural awe and fear. The Witches appear as old, wizened women wearing male costumes, and even growing beards; they stoke up the seed of evil ambition in Macbeth, just as Lady Macbeth keeps the ambition growing in her husband's mind. The witches possess an ambiguous sexuality, and their dubious nature is always suspect. They equivocate to Macbeth's doing and undoing.
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