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Gender Roles In Macbeth

724 Words3 Pages

Presley Gallagher Ms. Tenore English 10
1/9/23
Gender’s Role in Macbeth
One of the most important roles that take place in the play Macbeth by William
Shakespeare is gender. The play Macbeth illustrates many gender stereotypes. One where men had to be ambitious, independent, strong, and unaffected. Women had to be dependent, submissive, and have no opinion or ambition. During the Renaissance, women tended to their husbands, children, and the household. All the while, men dominated politics, finance, and made all the decisions. Shakespeare challenges gender roles by twisting both masculine and feminine qualities in characters, which shows that it is not the gender but the nature of a person that governs how they act.
One character that Shakespeare used to blur the line between male and female roles was Macbeth. In the beginning, Macbeth is seen as brave and merciless in battle. He is well respected and has a lot of power when it comes to the military. He rushes into battle fearlessly, even though they are outnumbered. Many others' faith in his abilities are shown when the Captain references Macbeth and …show more content…

Macbeth becomes so afraid and paranoid that he sees the ghost of his former friend who he ordered to kill. As shown in the quote “Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake / Thy gory locks at me” (3.4.61-62). He becomes crazy and emotional which is not seen as “manly”. Although Macbeth commits murder to achieve his goal of taking the throne and may appear masculine, his mind is battling his inner femininity. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth goes from unaffected to killing herself from the overwhelming amount of guilt her conscience possesses. Even before she killed herself she confessed her sins and her emotions towards the murder while sleep-talking. Overall, their change in masculine and feminine characteristics lead to a redirection of the

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