Gender Roles In Macbeth

Kingship is consistently portrayed in the Macbeth narrative as being male and possessing masculine traits. The kings who came before Macbeth, Duncan, and Malcolm, did not exhibit these male traits in their personas. Cruelty, paranoia, and unrestrained ambition were the male traits that Macbeth displayed when in power. Malcolm did not exhibit these traits in his capacity as a monarch. Malcolm was impelled to conceal his actual self because he felt pressured to act in a specific way that society expected of a man of his gender. It is implied that kings in England and Scotland are superior beings who are subject to God's will by the notion that they have a divine right to rule. In William Shakespeare's 1606 drama Macbeth, the supernatural events

James says that kings "sit on God's throne in the earth and have the tally of their administration to render unto him," (James, Para. 4) making any uprising against the tyrant "monstrous and unnatural," (James, para. 30) and therefore a revolt against God's will. As a result, they condemn the murder of Duncan by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as a rebellion against God and see it as a deviation from the natural order. The uncertain and strange gender of Lady Macbeth is a mirror of their perversion of nature, as is the whole play. The play implies that the couple's failure to rule is what caused the environmental changes and the disease that begins to spread. The pair remains focused on these distortions until the land finally rebels against their tyrannical rule, restoring the natural order they had

Ross speaks to an elderly man about two additional bizarre occurrences: that Duncan's horses are "eating each other" after becoming "wild in nature," and that "a falcon...was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed" (2.4.11-13). Of his unnatural activities and upsetting order, the text predicts that he will experience yet another form of plague. Because Lady Macbeth's consciousness has returned and her attempt to subvert the natural order is crumbling, her attempt to rid herself of her gender has failed. As she starts to sleepwalk, she speaks out about the horrific things she has done. She appears to have committed herself off-stage, and "the wail of women" serves as a signal. By modern standards, her final unnatural deed was a crime against herself. If the doctor could locate his queen's illness and "purge it to a sound and spotless health," Macbeth says he would cheer. Because of the witches' false predictions, he is temporarily apprehensive of his demise, but he is aware that something is wrong. As the witches warned him, "until Birnam Forest comes to Dunsinane," he continues to believe that nothing bad can happen to him (5.3.10). After Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth is brought to his knees, and for a brief period, it appears as though the country is revolting against his unnatural rule. He observes troops concealed by branches and leaves, but the event's metaphorical meaning is