Gender Roles in Macbeth The characters of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth deviate from accepted gender roles of the Elizabethan era. Throughout the play, social constructs of expected masculine and feminine roles are defied by both major and minor characters. Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare explores and challenges stereotypical gender roles through female characters exhibiting masculine behaviours, introducing non-traditional relationships, and portraying examples of sexism. Shakespeare illustrates a world where traditional gender roles are broken. It is a world where women are frequently powerful figures and men are often shown as being weak and emotional. This challenges the thinking of that time, as well as the audience’s expectations of …show more content…
It is a reoccurring theme throughout Macbeth. Characters such as Macduff and Malcom make comments insinuating that males are the dominant species and females cannot handle what men can. They also make comment that men should not show feminine characteristics. Ross delivers the disturbing news that Macduff’s family has been murdered. Malcom tells Macduff to, “Dispute it like a man” (4.3.226), suggesting that he should not cry or show emotion because that is not something men do. Acting like a man is more important than showing his feelings because of the gender roles of the time. Another example of this is when Duncan’s murder is revealed. Lady Macbeth asks Macduff what has happened and he replies, “The repetition in a woman’s ear would murder as it fell.” (2.3.81-82). This is highly misogynistic and quite ironic considering Lady Macbeth was the mastermind behind the killing of Duncan. Macduff is tied to a notion that females are so gentle that they cannot handle hearing something like this. We are shown that sexism is present throughout the play. As well as men who are supposed to be tough throughout traumatic events have female traits, and females who are gentle and kind beings can show more masculinity than some
Well Lady Macbeth, who is dead set on having absolute power, disagrees with that. She convinces Macbeth to kill, to cover up the murders, and tries to convince him that these murders will get them to the top. Lady Macbeth calls upon the witches and states, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 lines 31 and 31). This shows that while in the pursuit of power, Lady Macbeth wanted it so much that she asked the witches to “unsex” her and make her more like man. But along with that you see the theme of gender roles are uncertain which ties into Lady Macbeth leading Macbeth in this pursuit of power, also giving him the ambition that she wants him to
1. The portrayals of masculinity and femininity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth challenge stereotypes of men and women because Lady Macbeth breaks many stereotypes about women. Lady Macbeth is the one who encourages Macbeth to murder Duncan so he will be the King and so that Banquo’s children won’t be on the throne. Lady Macbeth says, “What beast was’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man” (I, vii, 55-58).
Lady Macbeth: Well, I could say that I, myself, am one of the most famous and frightening female characters of Shakespeare. Already in the beginning is when I start planning to murder Duncan. I am stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious than my husband, Macbeth. I am fully aware of this fact and know that I will have to push Macbeth into complying my plan. So in other words, I could conclude that I have a masculine soul inhabiting a female body, which seems to link masculinity to ambition and violence.
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the protagonist desperately tries to live up to the image of a man that his society portrays. The search for his manhood leads him to violent acts that inevitably get him killed. In this tragedy, male and female roles are constantly discussed and defined. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity to violence and aggression. They both believe that in order to be a real man, then a man must perform violent acts when necessary.
It’s no surprise, that Shakespeare’s Macbeth was clearly constructed as a rebellion against femininity roles of the time. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to believe they were inferior to men since men obtained desired masculine qualities such as strength, and loyalty, whereas women were viewed as figures of hospitality (1; 6; 28-31). Obviously, not being tempted by the luxury of subservient women, William Shakespeare rebuked this twisted belief, applying that women deserve more respect than their kitchen tables.
Traditionally, the men are the providers, workers, and essentially becomes the strength of the family while the women are the ones who stay in the house and take care of the children. A man’s physical strength is depicted as strong and brave at dreadful times, but in Macbeth, the men can wind up weak while the women remain strong as proven many times between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. The gender roles between the Macbeths’ gradually transition throughout the play presenting the stereotypical gender are explored and challenged.
One of the apparitions warns Macbeth of Macduff. Macbeth kills Macduff’s family in order to lure Macduff to him. While Macduff is searching for Macbeth, he refuses to kill Macbeth's servants because they “Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth, / Or else [his] sword with unbattered edge / [He shall] sheathe again undeeded”(Act 5.6.18-20). Shakespeare shows the progression of the meaning of masculinity by contradicting the stereotype of violence that many people had during the 1600’s.
The women in Macbeth are presented by Shakespeare to be powerful and ambitious which was unlike the typical views during Jacobean times. The playwright portrays Lady Macbeth and the witches to be highly influential to male characters in the play, which again contrasts the contemporary views to that time. Their ambition and power are demonstrated through the perversion of nature. This highlights the evil and immoral side, they possess. Shakespeare, however, presented Lady Macbeth and the witches to be manipulative and cunning, rather than violent like Macbeth was during the play.
For example, she often questioned her husband’s authority and manlihood, which, at that time, was practically forbidden for any female to do. Along with that, she requests to be “unsexed” so she wouldn’t be assosiated with the frail stereotype females had. Furthermore, she even mentioned that she would “dash the brains out” of her own child, showing that she isn’t tender at all, unlike the common woman of her time. Altogether, Lady Macbeth is a prime example some of the gender-role reversals in Macbeth due to her obdurate personality, wicked mindset, authoritve behavior, and selfish motives.
One of Shakespeare’s most well known plays, Macbeth, has a plot that focuses on a man that loses his mind through the play. The fact that it is a man is significant, and Shakespeare enjoys questioning the different roles. Macbeth presents very concrete gender roles for men and women key to its plot, but the roles are broken many times throughout the play, including the examples of Lady Macbeth and the witches, creating additional tension between the men and the women. The role of men in Macbeth is key to the plot of the play. Evidence of this exists such that the word man (and similar derivations) exist over forty times throughout the work, about three times as many as woman and its derivations (Liston 232).
This point is evident when Ross is explaining to Macduff the negative impact Macbeth’s rule on Scotland would be. Ross says, “...your eye in Scotland / Would create soldiers, make our women fight, / To doff their dire distresses” (4.3.CITE). In this era, Shakespeare took advantage of his scholarly, prominent writing to include stereotypes that existed at the time. Additionally, in Harold Bloom’s book, Macbeth, which outlines major themes within the play in academic form, he mentions, “At the same time that the tyrant’s uxoriousness is thus introduced, it is complicated by the play’s confusion of masculinity and femininity, which allows gender to be manipulated in political rhetoric” (Bloom,
This source explains the difference between the portrayal of women and men in Shakespeare's plays. She discusses the stereotypes between the different genders and how characters reflect those roles in societies. This article is opinionated and only shows one
In Macbeth, one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, the character of Lady Macbeth at first appears as if she breaks the mold of what a woman should be, and how she should act. She is driven and takes control of the conflict at hand. Her characterization appears new and fresh. Unfortunately, Shakespeare takes this revolutionary depiction of a woman and falls short.
The relationship between manhood and atrocity is the theme portrayed in Macbeth. Gender is a big factor in the drama, many decisions are made by the characters dwelling on the thought of masculinity. Lady Macbeth takes advantage of her husband by questioning his manhood, she then wishes that she herself had no female qualities and had similar male qualities. Also, she does not deny Macbeth when he says that a female like her should give birth to boys. A lot like the way that Lady Macbeth persuades her husband on to murder, Macbeth manipulates the assassins he hires to kill Banquo by questioning their manliness as well.