The consequences of Antigone and Lady Macbeth's acts of rebellion against their patriarchal systems result in their untimely deaths. Two women who exist in society as the property of men, but find the courage to speak up to get what they want. Each of these characters uses their delicate hands in deliberate actions against their male counterparts in complete disregard for traditional rules. An inner spirit empowers them with silent strength against the influential men in their lives. Antigone claims her superiority over Creon in her confession to Ismene, the choir and the king himself. She undermines his power by going against the decreed law and instead honors her brother Polyneices with the burial act. Similar to Lady Macbeth, our heroine Antigone uses a man's skills as a formidable force against the patriarchy. Towards the end of her life, she fears nothing, nor does she regret the acts of rebellion against the king that bring her the comfort of death. From Antigone's lips flow bold words bright as blazing stars, and from her soft, supple throat, she vomits to Creon: "If this drives me to die before my time / Such a death is a gain." (210). (However, as she does so she erases the only female remaining in her line.) (honoring her male family member), Antigone's menacing defiance lingers like a wet splinter of wood under a dry nail when she refuses to acknowledge her public shame for his actions. The burial now serves as a public forum for Antigone to proudly claim Creon's lack of power over her as a ruler and as a man. Lady Macbeth adopts a different strategy to use her feminine influence to convince her husband Macbeth to kill for the coveted throne, but each conversation brings her closer to her untimely death... middle of paper... pity and fear. In a further step away from femininity, she asks the evil creatures to transform her mother's milk into a poison unfit for maternal care of a child. Such acts against the female nature are labeled by Elizabeth Klett as unnatural. In his introspective article on Macbeth's women he states that they are like this: "Not […] a necessary evil, but because they criticize their role, directly or indirectly, in an oppressive patriarchal world." Lady Macbeth upsets the natural order of behavior known to women, and changes the course of her husband's destiny as well as her own. Later in the play, Macbeth transforms into the man who has become the cold and callous warmonger for whom his wife fought so reverently. Unfortunately, the call for thickened blood now wanes, and Lady Macbeth cannot deny her guilt as she slowly crumbles under the pressure.