Hearts of Steel, Words of Flame: Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth as Subversive Femme Fatales

Abstract

This paper examines the portrayal of Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon and Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as subversive femme fatales, characters who subvert traditional gender norms and challenge patriarchal power dynamics and structures through their actions and motivations. By exploring their traits in terms of motivation, agency, manipulation, and outcome, this study sheds light on how both women use power, rhetoric, and manipulation to shape the fates of those around them, especially the male protagonists. Clytemnestra, driven by a deep sense of justice and revenge for the sacrifice of her daughter is depicted as an assertive, powerful, and independent figure who takes control of her household and exerts her will with both preciseness and ruthlessness. Similarly, Lady Macbeth, motivated by ambition and a desire for power, manipulates her husband, Macbeth into committing regicide, exemplifying the archetype of the woman who is influential as well as dangerous in her pursuit of dominance and ambition.