Lady+Macbeth+Joey+and+Frances

There are incredible similarities between the fictional, infamous Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s Macbeth and real life Bonnie Parker from the notorious Bonnie and Clyde duo. Although unique in their own ways, each woman was a main influence in their lover’s crimes, held the control originally but then lost it to remorse and guilt, and thought they had to be manly to be proven worthy of being a part of a criminal group. Before Clyde Barrow met his accomplice Bonnie, he was accused of petty theft but received a suspended sentence due to his brother taking the blame. Then shortly after meeting each other, already married Bonnie Parker moved in with Clyde and he was incarcerated for two years for another robbery. His crimes became even worse with Bonnie’s help. She smuggled a gun into the jail to help Clyde escape. He became free but she paid a penance of three months in jail. Clyde’s life during these three months went under the radar. He was not accused of any more crimes. However, once Bonnie was let out of jail, they started their infamous criminal spree. Most of the intimate details of Bonnie and Clyde remain a legend, but Bonnie’s influence over Clyde was indisputable. Shakespeare allowed readers around the world to know the intimate details between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was the one who brought the idea of killing King Duncan to Macbeth’s attention. Macbeth had thought of the murder originally but didn’t dare speak about it and decided to remove it from his mind. However, Lady Macbeth influenced Macbeth and criticized his manhood until he was persuaded to carry out the deed. One tactic Lady Macbeth used against Macbeth was to claim her loyalty to him so that he would believe her words. She alleges that she would rather take her baby from her chest while she was breastfeeding it and smash its brains out than lie to him. After such a bold statement, Macbeth puts his trust in her plan which eventually leads to his own demise. Through this trust she was able to maintain, at least for a while, control over the situation. Lady Macbeth and Bonnie Parker both held the control by being masterminds in the shadows. Bonnie Parker pulled this off perfectly when she was a part of the “Barrow Gang” with Clyde. She was always an accomplice and never pulled a trigger. This way she could make sure everything went according to plan all the while looking innocent. Lady Macbeth acted in the same manor. No one suspected Lady Macbeth as an accomplice to Duncan’s murder. But in actuality, she came up with the plan and covered her husband’s tracks. At the dinner that the couple held, Macbeth started to act insane due to his overwhelming guilt. Lady Macbeth kept soothing the crowd until she eventually had to make them leave so she could save her husband’s skin. At the murder scene, Macbeth didn’t go according to the plan and she had to put the daggers back. Bonnie Parker also had to deal with a group that did not go according to plan. During the Barrow gang’s adventure, Bonnie’s suto sister-in-law decided to pay with silver coins instead of dollars, which immediately tipped off the police. Somewhere along the line in their criminal acts, both Lady Macbeth and Bonnie also lost their control to remorse and guilt. Bonnie Parker started to try to save victims of unnecessary shootings instead of escaping in time. [|Lady Macbeth] started to sleep walk and talk in her sleep. Her guilt conscious led her to an off stage suicide. When both women lost their control over the situation, they handed it to their lovers who were not capable of handling it. When Macbeth gained full control of the situation he acted somewhat insane. He also started to be overconfident, listening to a different group of women the Weird Sisters. This led to his death by Malcolm and Mac duff. Clyde Barker also became too confident without his woman companion to bring him to reality. He did not hide his identity as well as he should and was usually identified only due to his odd behavior. This tipped off the police and they were able to shoot him and Bonnie Parker down. The one mistake both Lady Macbeth and Bonnie Parker probably made was trying to become manly in order to carry out their evil plans. Lady Macbeth prayed to god to help her become manlier. In her eyes, her feminity would hold her back from succeeding in her goals. Also in Macbeth, the women who are the manliest, the Weird Sisters, are the ones Macbeth listens to in the end. So there may have been some credibility to her theory. Bonnie Parker felt the same way. She dressed just as one of the boys. She smoked and wore all black. And her manliest trait was her constant scowl she gave for pictures. Although some people may disagree that one woman was more involved than the other, both Lady Macbeth and Bonnie Parker had a lot of similarities. They had infamous lovers that they used as puppets, they both gave into their feminity and felt remorse for their victims, and they both tried the failed approach of being manly in order to fulfill their crimes.