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Gender Differences In Macbeth

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In today’s society, we have defined certain characteristics that males and females are expected to meet in order to meet social standards. For example, men are supposed to be strong and brave, while women are weak and rely on the men to take care of them. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth and his wife do whatever it takes to make sure that he obtains and remains in power. In the lives of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the stereotypical gender roles reverse, and as the story continues, they revert back to the expected characteristics. According to the typical social standards, women are supposed to be submissive to men. However, Lady Macbeth takes total control over her husband. When they are plotting to kill Duncan she says to Macbeth, “and you shall put this night's great business into my dispatch” (1.5.421- 422). She does not believe that Macbeth has what it takes to carry out this plan. Not only does she put down her husband, but she also strives to make …show more content…

When it comes to killing Macduff’s family, for example, he does not even consult his wife. He says, “Seize upon Fife, give to the sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (4.1.151-153). Before, he relied on his wife to achieve the heavy duty tasks, but here he becomes more independent. Just as Macbeth develops expected masculine traits, Lady Macbeth develops the feminine traits. Contrary to her behavior at the start of the play, she becomes weak and dependant on her husband. She begins to sleepwalk and says, "Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!” (5.1.56-58) She cannot bear the thought of being responsible for the death of others. This behavior mimics Macbeth’s when he first killed Duncan. At that time, he was weak and gentle, and now, Lady Macbeth has become the

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All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (Shakespeare 5.1.52-54). This quote reveals Lady Macbeth’s delusion, as there is no actual smell of blood present, rather Lady Macbeth recalls the scent of Duncan’s blood after his death. Lady Macbeth’s guilt

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Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.

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The Odyssey and Macbeth are classic tales of adventure and war endured by the men of their respective eras. Both pieces of literature show the lives of not only the men with the namesakes to their respective stories, but the lives of the women in those stories as well. During those times, women did not have much political or societal influence, besides being child-bearing homemakers. However, the authors of these respective works showed ways of how women can be perceived as more masculine, or how men can be more feminine. Characters could even appear as androgynous and not identify with either gender.

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Gender Roles in Macbeth Gender stereotypes have affected many events leading up to today. In Macbeth, gender roles impact the way that readers view the characters in the tragedy. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have gone against the grain in regards to gender specific viewpoints. Throughout the whole play, they exemplify the breaking of gender stereotypes placed upon women and men. Abolishing the pre-existing idea that men are better at some things than women, the actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can be compared to events in society throughout time.

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Here it show that Lady Macbeth has a weakness since she didn’t has the audacity to kill King Duncan because of the resembled of her father. Her ambitious grew stronger since she was the one obligated this whole plans for Macbeth and even prepared daggers for her him. She could

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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.

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The same reasons Lady Macbeth struggles with conformity to her traditional roles are many of the same reasons Macbeth exhibits feminine qualities. Lady Macbeth would rather remove all feminine and maternal qualities than conform to her role. Filled with greed at the thought to be Queen, Lady Macbeth renounces her femininity, Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from crown to the toes top-full, Of direct cruelty! (1.5.43-46)

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[with] direst cruelty”, grants her the ability to act in a way that is considered both ruthless and respected among men, suggesting the difference between the actions of women and men as well as the difference in seriousness taken as a result of action from either gender(1.5.48-50). Without the presence of a stigma relating to gender throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has no reason to declare her disconnect with her feminine identity. However, the idea that gender makes one inferior

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In Macbeth, William Shakespeare believes that gender roles can manipulate people into conforming to their roles through challenging manliness, assuming weakness, and convincing of manhood. Early on, Shakespeare uses gender roles to set the stage for the rest of the play, in this case making Macbeth go through with killing Duncan. Macbeth has just been promoted to Thane of Cawdor and Duncan now dines in his home. Macbeth has heard the prophecy and seen that it has all been true up to this point, so does his wife. Out of greed and other reasons Lady Macbeth wanted Macbeth to kill Duncan because she believed “when you durst do it, then you were a man” (I.vii.54-58).

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Her descent from "femme fatale" into a symbolic masculine-aggressive power-hungry transformation and gender reversal with her husband that drains her leaving her zombie-like, a "victim" of power who was, in a sense, identical to MacBeth 's descent into darkness when he attempted to boast a manly front. Earlier in the play, Lady Macbeth possessed a stronger resolve and sense of purpose than her husband and was the driving force behind their plot to kill Duncan. When Macbeth believed his hand was irreversibly bloodstained earlier in the play, Lady Macbeth suggests, “A little water clears us of this deed” (II. ii. 70). Now, however, she too hallucinates blood. She is completely undone by guilt and descends into madness.

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Lady Macbeth feels like she has to convince Macbeth to kill before he gives up, so she thinks that threatening his masculinity will work. Another time gender roles are brought up is when Malcolm calls Macduff womanly because he is crying and that he should seek revenge to be a man. Macduff responds with, “Oh, I could play the woman with mine eyes / And braggart with my tongue (4:3:237-238)!” Macduff is embarrassed when seen crying because men were thought to not be emotional.

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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).

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Brooke Ranson Mr. Ritchey British Literature 15 November 2014 Gender Roles in Macbeth William Shakespeare’s writing style often reflects the stereotypes of men and women’s various roles and authorities in society, as well as how they interpret the authentic challenges those representations face. Shakespeare utilizes gender roles in the story of Macbeth to capture the audience 's attention to society’s stereotype discriminations. He does this solely through Macbeth’s complicated and rather ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth. She is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and terrifying female characters.

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Throughout the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many metaphors and examples about gender and traditional gender roles to show us how the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, change throughout the piece and become different people. At the beginning of the play, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have many characteristics that are usually associated with the opposite gender. Shakespeare creates these gender roles to show how the characters change many of their behaviors when they are confronted with stress and power. He specifically picks these roles based on how he wants to portray these character’s views and how he wants them to fit to a common gender guideline for that era.

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