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Macbeth Gender Roles

719 Words3 Pages

In Macbeth gender roles seem almost opposite in some parts of the play. The women seem dominant and powerful but at the same time they are not. The man seems to be weak at some parts. The women would be Lady Macbeth and the three witches. While the male would be Macbeth. Macbeth seems to be more feminine than the women. William Shakespeare develops the theme of troubling gender roles in The Tragedy of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth seems dominant in her marriage with Macbeth. She tells him what to do and how to do it almost like that she wears the pants of the relationship which back then would be opposite. On many occasions she seems to be dissatisfied with herself and Macbeth. Referring to her husband “it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness …show more content…

She says that they will kill him at night and blame his army and get them drunk so they can take the blame “…used their very daggers…” (Shakespeare 317). Lady Macbeth has been the brains of this all along but only because of three witches that told them about it all. The witches seem to be a dominant figure but having trouble with their gender considering “you should be a women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so” (Shakespeare FIND PAGE NUMBER). The three witches are not the ones to mess with and would not test them. In the beginning the three witches were discussing something that they saw in the future “…battle’s lost and won…” (Shakespeare 302). Since they started this the messenger then tells Lady Macbeth about how they predict he will become king. Which then causes her to say “unsex me here, And fill me, from crown to the toe, top-full Of dirtiest cruelty” (Shakespeare 313). Which she means is she wants to lose all of her female qualities and become big and bad. That then caused her evil plan to kill the king when he visits the …show more content…

Macbeth is controlled by his wife and follows everything that she says to do. What got him into this mess is when he defeated the battle and the king noticed. When the king heard about it he had reached out and shared his happiness and “…the news of thy success…” (Shakespeare 308) joyed him. That is when the king had decided to visit him and his wife which is where everything went downhill. Lady Macbeth always assures him that she will be right and that her plan will go just fine. But that is when he gets cold feet “But screw your courage to this sticking place, and we’ll not fail” (Shakespeare 317). He feels that they will fail and that is all he can focus on and cannot stop thinking about what will happen if they do. That is when Lady Macbeth starts to manipulate him and keep making him think that they will be just

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