Gender Roles In Macbeth

Power of Gender in Macbeth

In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth uses both genders to get what she wants, while utilizing gender as influence to encourage Macbeth to perform various acts.

Lady Macbeth takes advantage of both gender roles by utilizing her femininity to persuade others that she is not dangerous, and masculinity to persuade Macbeth to execute unlawful deeds. An example of Lady Macbeth exploiting her femininity is when she welcomes Duncan to their Castle. Lady Macbeth states, “Your servants ever/ Have their, themselves, and what is their in compt/ To make their audit at your Highness’ pleasure,/ Still to return your own” (1.6.32-35). In the past, the stereotypical jobs for women were cooking and cleaning due to them being unfit to do quote

Not only did Lady Macbeth use “insults” to persuade Macbeth into doing acts, Lady Macbeth always used stories and accusations to convince Macbeth that in order to be considered a man he had to as she said. For instance, Lady Macbeth uses the story of killing her baby if she promised to do so. She states, “I have given suck, and know/ How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me./ I would, while it was smiling in my face,/ Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/ And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/ Have done to this” (1.7.62-67). This is another example of Lady Macbeth manipulating Macbeth through the use of masculinity in a story. She does this through the articulation of situations that make Macbeth feel less than Lady Macbeth because said she would kill if she promised to do so and Macbeth is stating that he is questioning killing Duncan after saying he would. Although Lady Macbeth never carried out any murders, it is enough to convince Macbeth that he is strong enough to do so because if a woman could hypothetically carry out of murder then a man could definitely do it. Lady

Lady Macbeth believes that the only way for Macbeth to become king, she has to be tough and cruel like a man to ensure that the murders don’t affect her well-being. After receiving the letter from Macbeth about his interactions with the witches, she states, “The Raven himself is hoarse/ That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan/ Under my battlements. Come you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.” (1.5.45-50). When Lady Macbeth speaks to herself, we see that she begs the spirits to take away her femininity and make her brutal, like a man, so that Macbeth can become king. Lady Macbeth's fixation with Macbeth being king can be argued to be greater than Macbeth's own obsession with becoming king. Lady Macbeth, in other words, did everything in her power to ensure that Macbeth became king because she desired more authority. Lady Macbeth was the “mastermind” behind the whole operation. Since Lady Macbeth adopted the viewpoint of a man, it made it easy for her to talk to Macbeth as though she was a fellow man, making it easier for her to convince Macbeth to carry out the plan. If she were to talk from a femininity view, Macbeth wouldn’t have followed her viewpoint leading to Macbeth not killing Duncan nor having the