Masculinity has been a heated debated topic over the past years. Not just america or europe, but our whole society. Men tend to think that entering manhood is a good thing, but most don’t know it can be just as detrimental to our society. Men have certain characteristic when it concerns to masculinity and when doing so it can have a range of effects. So, how do men identify themselves masculine and how do they define themselves that way? In Macbeth and The Mask You Live In, the characteristics of masculinity begins with the questioning or threatening of their manhood, which then leads to successive violence, and lastly, the desperate behavior that occurs when ashamed. In Macbeth, and The Mask You Live In, Shakespeare investigates the connection between a man’s questioning and …show more content…
In Act 1, scene 7 lines 39-44 of Macbeth, after Macbeth denies Lady Macbeth’s scheme to murder King Duncan in their home, Lady Macbeth viciously states, “Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? [...] And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would“ (Shakespeare 1.7 39-44). When Lady Macbeth calls her husband “green and pale” she is stating, in his condition, that he looks like he has the green sickness, which is another name for anemia. For centuries this disease was thought to be originated from young, virgin girls. Lady macbeth is challenging his masculinity by calling Macbeth a virgin girl. This was unfortunate because of this comment it resulted him committing to do her dirty work of killing Duncan. This was the destructive moment of his first major deed which untimely led to end of his life. This