Masculinity in Macbeth The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, plays with the idea of gender roles in a way that is ahead of its time. Shakespeare allows his characters to go against some gender stereotypes, but others uphold and reinforce them. Gender stereotypes are something that men and women alike have had to struggle with and overcome, and in this book both have to deal with them. In Macbeth though, male gender stereotypes are more prominent. Masculinity is compared to brutality and violence, power and strength. It drives men to kill and prevents their grief. It’s something that men strive to be and are held to standards they can’t meet. They can’t show weakness and must show their power whenever they can. They aren’t allowed to grieve …show more content…
He was the Thane of Fife, and very loyal to King Duncan, even after his death. He believes that Macbeth may next try to kill him and he flees to England, attempting to find a way to defeat Macbeth. Once Macbeth hears about this, he decides to send a message to Macduff. He has his entire family murdered, just to send a message. Once Macduff hears about this, he doesn’t cry, he doesn’t even get upset. Instead, he is told to “Dispute it like a man” (Shakespeare, 155), and he responds that he “I shall do so” (Shakespeare, 155). He’s told to convert his grief into anger and to use it against Macbeth. These quotes represent a large part of the gender roles they have to deal with. Instead of being allowed to grieve he has to get revenge on the man that killed his family. Instead of feeling sorrow, he must feel anger. Another example of a time when someone can’t show their emotions because they are a man is when Siward hears that his son has been killed. He’s told “ like a man he died” (Shakespeare, 189), meaning he went down fighting. The connection between violence and masculinity keeps coming up. Siward also doesn’t show many emotions when he learns about the death. Instead, he is proud of how his son died. He says “I would not wish them to a fairer death” (Shakespeare, 189). This means he’s happy that his son died fighting, not running away. Instead of grief, he’s proud that his son died not a coward, but a fighter. If there wasn’t such an intimate connection between violence and what a man should be, his son may have survived that