Tangent 21 - Help

Posted by
Mishelisa

Posted on
21:46
Oct 24 2003

Help

Hi
I know I've not been on for ages, but I have been up to my eyes in course work and just haven't had the time. So, I know it might seem like I'm using you a bit, but I am coming to you in need.

I am currently doing shakespeare and one of the questions is do you think Lady Macbeth is a femme fatal. In order to answer this question properly, I need to know the exact meaning of the word femme fatal. I know the meaning, but I wanted to know if a femme fatal is a woman who actually commits the crime or is she a woman who uses her womanly guiles to use some-one else to commit the crime. As you can see the difference between the two, really does depend on how I word my answer.

Many Thanks, and I promise to catch up

Mishelisa

Sorry, hun, but I had to edit your post because we use slightly different codes on here than those you might use on a Live/Dead Journal. If you want to post the url again, bracket it [ url ] url [ /url ] but without the spaces

Whistler

(Edited by Staff 25/10/2003 01:21)

8 Replies and 966 Views in Total.

Keenangel *Fourteen phonecalls a night??!!*

Well my Collins Dictionary has the term "femme fatale" down as "alluring woman who leads men into dangerous situations by her charm"

Hope that helps a little bit

Nice to see you back even for just a little while

Posted: 22:04 Oct 24 2003

Mishelisa 'If you want to know what a man's like, take a look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals'.

Hi Keeny,
I've neglected you all for far too long

That is a great help, it would indicate she uses her charms, and may not actually commit the act.
Many Thanks

Posted: 22:16 Oct 24 2003

The_Host The concept of 'All-You-Can-Eat' buffets has always appealed to me.

I haven't read 'Macbeth' for a long time, and might even have missed it altogether, but I had the impression that Lady Macbeth didn't so much employ feminine wiles as badger her husband into becoming a murderer. I wouldn't therefore describe her as a femme fatale, unlike Kim Bassinger's character in 'Wayne's World 2'...

Posted: 03:16 Oct 25 2003

The_Host The concept of 'All-You-Can-Eat' buffets has always appealed to me.

But hey, don't take that as the final word on the subject peeps

Posted: 01:42 Oct 26 2003

Alan Got a message from the Great Lakes Avengers, They offered me a membership but didn't accept... they're a walking disaster... Just don't make sense at all... the worst heroes of all time, To call thems

I had to study the Film Noir genre for A-Level Film Studies, and I think the femme fatale was a "sexually alluring female who draws the protagonist into and through the narrative and (usually) to his downfall"... hope that helped, if I've remembered it right, and if it made any sense... *shrug*

Posted: 10:27 Oct 27 2003

Kate "Have you been gargling with bong water?!"

From what I recall, the original plot was in fact Macbeth's idea from the outset. Lady M acted more as a brace for his nerve, once he'd talked her round and she saw the potential advantages.

If she were, indeed, a femme fatale, I would suggest that it would have been her idea from the go and that she had used her wiles to draw her husband in. In truth, he made a suggestion, she siezed upon it and gave him the "push" she felt he needed to follow it through.

Posted: 12:03 Oct 27 2003

Jayjay "I may be scattered / A little shattered / What does it matter / No one has a fit like I do / I'm the only one that fits you"

I think Keeny's definition pretty much sums it up. Femme Fatal, from the usage I am aware of, usually seems to describe women who like to control, and do so through use of their sexuality.

So, for what it is worth (seeing as I haven't seen or read MacBeth in too long, and no one is interested in marking my views anyway), no, she would not have been someone I would have described as a Femme Fatal. Glenn Close's character in Dangerous Liaisons would seem to me the classic example of a Femme Fatal.

Hope this helps, and good to see you back.

Posted: 00:03 Oct 28 2003

Mishelisa 'If you want to know what a man's like, take a look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals'.

Thanks everyone!
And it's really nice to know I might have been missed, Am nearly crying, such an emotional reunion