The Parallels Between Catherine the Great and Lady Macbeth Notes

Catherine the Great

Catherine The Great of Russia Catherine the Great of Russia was the first queen to ever take complete control of Russia after her husband's death.

Catherine the Great participated in a coup dtat against her husband

She approved the assassination of her husband and for centuries it was believed that he died from "Hemorrhoids"

His death was necessary in order to secure her reign

She became a ruthless leader who expanded Russia's borders and reformed Russian society.

Lady Macbeth and Catherine the Great of Russia:

Megalomaniacs Lady Macbeth and Catherine the Great both aspired to obtain total power within their respective kingdoms by any means necessary. They were extremely ambitious and deceptive.

Both women attempted achieve this through their husbands. Both of these women meddled in their Husbands political affairs. - Lady Macbeth egged her husband on, encouraging him to murder the King - Catherine the Great was encouraged by the Orlov brothers to consider his death a means to power

Nothing could stop the ambitions of Lady Macbeth and Catherine the Great - They both indirectly disposed of anyone that threatened their chance of being the ruler E.g. Catherine the Great- Peter, Ivan VI, Pugachev E.g. Lady Macbeth- King Duncan,

- Catherine the Great even had her own husband overthrown so she could secure total power in the Russian Empire. - Lady Macbeth persuaded her husband into murdering all the potential rivals to his throne.

- Lady Macbeth had no moral objections to murder and felt that anyone threatening her chance at the throne was a problem to be dealt with. - Catherine the Great visited Ivan VI to establish whether he posed a threat and reiterated Empress Elizabeth's order to have him killed him a coup was attempted

Both women attempted to justify their ruthless rise to power. - Lady Macbeth claimed that water could wash the blood of any deed away. - Catherine the Great hid her ruthless rise to power behind a facade of reform and Russian nationalism. Her marriage to Potemkin had to remain a secret as .

Catherine the Great would not allow anyone to dictate the way she ruled. She started multiple wars and increased the size of Russia by 200,000 square miles because she felt that if she used an aggressive foreign policy, nations would be less likely to disagree with her views and she wanted to establish a place for Russia on the world stage, one that would rival Europe (Note: Both her and Peter admired and integrated European policies, architecture etc - Catherine the Great accepted numerous views from the enlightenment and forced these views on her people whether they wanted to accept it or not. She would lay out a plan and follow through with it no matter who stood in her way. - She passed modern economic, political and social ideas into law such as the modernization of agriculture and created a centralized government. Many people disagreed with these changes however they had no choice but to do as she said or risk imprisonment - Lady Macbeth needed to have everything the way she wanted. She would verbally abuse and trick her husband until he did what she wanted. She did not care about what he thought about any subject. It had to be her way. - Both women were ruthless leaders because they did not allow anyone to dictate the way things should be.

Lady Macbeth and Catherine the Great were unique women because they were able to acquire more power than any other woman could have at the time. Lady Macbeth acquired power through her husband

Catherine the Great ruled alone

- Lady Macbeth held an immense amount of sway in her relationship with her husband. She was able to lead and influence every aspect of Macbeth's decision making which was not common among European queens. - Catherine the Great was one of the first women in Victorian Europe to lead such a large and politically important nation. - She not only obtained power but also enacted reforms which made Russia stronger on the international stage. She played a major role in how the country would function. - This was unique because it was not common for a queen to rule alone. Male Traits

Lady Macbeth and Catherine the Great both share traits which tend to be characteristically and traditionally associated with males Aggressive Ruthless - Competitive Selfish Both women have acted aggressive toward their husbands. Both women have approved of murder. Both women strove for power.

- They both murdered or imprison anyone that would affect their chance at power. E.g. Lady Macbeth- Banquo, King Duncan, Banquos son

E.g. Catherine the Great- Peter, Pugachev, Ivan VI Neither women cared about the people in their life.

- Both women resorted to hurting and abusing family members and friends because they were able to benefit from it.

None of these traits compare with the portrayal of women as gentle, motherly and loving during this time period.
One Important Distinction

Lady Macbeth does whatever she needs to do to obtain power and does not help anyone along the

way.

Catherine the Great also does whatever she needs to do to obtain power but {whether directly or indirectly} helps the people of Russia a great deal with her reforms. While Lady Macbeth's power struggle was for her own needs and wants, it can be argued that Catherine, although sympathising with murder, did save Russia from an Emperor who would have dig Russia into a bottomless pit of ridicule and poverty with absolutely no advancements to speak of. What we really must look at when examining both women are their motives. They both may have had headstrong, autocratic personalities, but their motives for achieving power were for different reasons.