Macbeth Gender Roles Essay

(P) In the tragic play Macbeth (1606) by William Shakespeare, the author asserts, through Macbeth’s disordered gender roles, that women’s and men’s roles in evil are equal. (CE) At the beginning of the tragedy, the arrival of three witches marks the prophecy in which Macbeth becomes king. They state that Macbeth is to be king, but with no heirs, the line is to pass to Banquo and his heirs. Later, after the witches leave the scene, Macbeth wonders, (E) “Whose murder yet is but fantastical” (Shakespeare I.III.29). A) In his mind, to be king, the king must die. Here, the plot to kill the king begins playing out. Macbeth later informs his wife, Lady Macbeth, of the ”fantastical” prophecy. Lady Macbeth gets excited and informs her husband that she thinks him to be too soft to

Lady Macbeth begins ordering the spirits around her in the famous line: (E) “tend to my mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty” (Shakespeare I.V.26-28). A) In this scene, she is eager to replace feminism with evil. She asks to be filled with cruelty in order to do the evil she believes Macbeth can not. This demonstrates a disorder of gender roles, especially when she states, “Unsex me here” (Shakespeare I.V.26-28), as she is asking to take away any weakness from being a female, so that she may do the job of a man for the chance of power. (CE) Later, Lady Macbeth instructs her softer husband on how to hide his guilt and how to properly deceive others around them. The face of Macbeth is as readable as a book, so she demands, (E) “Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, Your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent that isn’t”(Shakespeare I.V.21-23). Here, Lady Macbeth takes the role of the man who controls Macbeth. She leads Macbeth through his guilt and instructs