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Macbeth Gender Roles Quotes

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Gender Roles has been developed throughout Act 1 and Act 2 by the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth says “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; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature, Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between, The effect and it. Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Wherever, in your sightless substances, You wait on nature's mischief.” This quote is saying that Macbeth is not capable of killing Duncan and to take away Lady Macbeth’s ability to feel guilt and that no pity can prevent her cruel actions from …show more content…

Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead, Are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood, That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt.” In this part of the scene, Lady Macbeth is calling Macbeth a coward and to give her the dagger. Later on in Act 2, Macduff says, “ O gentle lady, Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition, in a woman's ear, Would murder as it fell.” He is saying that he cannot tell her what happened, and if she would find out, it would kill her. Lady Macbeth “finds out” what happened and she pretends to faint, taking advantage of gender roles and acting innocent. In Act 2, the theme of gender roles is developed even more by the character, Lady Macbeth. She is shown to be more ambitious and brave than her husband. When Macbeth comes out of Duncan's chambers with the dagger, he is scared and says that his hands are covered with the blood of the man he just murdered. Lady Macbeth calls him a coward and then goes to the servants and smears the blood on them so they will look guilty. Later, when Macduff is telling people that Duncan has been murdered, Lady Macbeth uses the gender roles to her advantage and she acts like she is surprised and in shock after

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In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare blurs the line between the typical masculine and feminine roles of the time period in which it was written. Early on in the play, Macbeth shows resistance to Lady Macbeth’s murderous intentions. He demonstrates characteristics that were more true to women of the time period, appearing guilty and weak in comparison to Lady Macbeth. She shows dominance and power, which is what the reader would typically associate with a man of the time period. As the story goes on these characters essentially swap places.

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Lady Macbeth calls to the spirit to rid her of her feminity and fill her like a man, one with deadly cruelty. This shows how the female qualities Lady Macbeth possessed kept her back by her delicacy to commit such churlish crimes. After Lady Macbeth was stripped, she was later able control Macbeth's actions and take the lead in Act 2, Scene 2. "Why worthy thane, you unbend your noble strength to think so brainsickly of things," She continues to call his actions weak so unlike

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Upon finding out, Lady Macbeth, wife of Macbeth, insists that Macbeth kills Duncan, making him king, fulfilling the third prophecy. Being “too full o’ the milk of human kindness”(1.5.16), and not wanting to take the shortest and easiest path to power, Macbeth refuses. Enraged, Lady Macbeth calls him a coward, and questions his masculinity, to the point where Macbeth feels he has the murder in order to prove himself and his masculinity. Lady Macbeth even at one point asks the spirits above to take away all her feminine qualities, making her manly, something Macbeth isn’t, and give her the ability to kill Duncan herself without guilt or fear. This shows how even women, especially royalty, had certain views that presented masculinity.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

In act 1, scene 7, “ When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man”, this quotes tells the audience that lady macbeth is questioning Macbeth manhood, it remind present audience not only about the present, but this more of the past, due to view changing over time. This quotes reflects both the Elizabethan era, and Jacobean era, due to it still being in the period of time that England was still prioritizing men over women, and due to the fact that they believed that men were more stronger than women, they believed that men should not be ruled by emotion, rather ambition. In act 1 scene 5, “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. Stop up th' access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th' effect and it.

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

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

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1048 Words | 5 Pages

In the past times of Britain, women and men were thought of as “separate spheres”. They worked as complete individuals and did not associate with one another except for “at breakfast and again at dinner. The ideology of Separate Spheres rested on a definition of the ‘natural’ characteristics of women and men” (Hughes). People viewed women as “physically weaker yet morally superior” to the men (Hughes). These characteristics put women into the domestic sphere.

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1476 Words | 6 Pages

Macbeth calls her his “dearest partner of greatness”, which indicates they have a close relationship, and he considers her equal to him. “Lady Macbeth must act and think "like a man" because good women are by definition subservient, and can exert no recognizable authority.” When there is the idea of murdering King Duncan, she takes control of the situation. She calls on the evil sprits saying, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full, of direst cruelty.” She needed to be male in order to kill Duncan because it was believed only men could commit murder, since women were too dainty to do

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1765 Words | 8 Pages

If he do bleed, / I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, / for it must seem their guilt” (II.ii.51-52 & 53-55). Lady Macbeth is very angry with Macbeth, saying that he is a coward and a child who is afraid of a dead body. She yells at him to give her the daggers, so that she can paint the faces of the guards with Duncan’s blood to have it appear, as though they are the killers. Lady Macbeth becomes enraged that Macbeth is unable to complete a simple task and is acting as an annoying little kid. She aggressively puts him down when he comes to whine at her that he is unable to finish the plan.

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818 Words | 4 Pages

The doctors that found her assumes a feminine role saying, “I think, but dare not speak (5.1.69).” Lady Macbeth’s power, at that point, had become so strong that male characters were acting in ways that were expected of women. Her power, along with her insanity, left the Doctor dumbfounded. Men expected women to think but not speak. This swap of roles starts the end of the play with the start of downfall of the Macbeths.

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913 Words | 4 Pages

Lady Macbeth shows no signs of weakness, compassion, or aversion to violence and instead, Macbeth, the “valiant soldier”, seems to fall short in his valor. Instead of being a concerned and caring wife, she detaches herself from all aspects of femininity that seem to hold her back. Through this scene, Shakespeare criticizes the male-dominant culture, making it a significant part of the play and history as a

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107 Words | 1 Pages

William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a

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493 Words | 2 Pages

[with] direst cruelty”, grants her the ability to act in a way that is considered both ruthless and respected among men, suggesting the difference between the actions of women and men as well as the difference in seriousness taken as a result of action from either gender(1.5.48-50). Without the presence of a stigma relating to gender throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has no reason to declare her disconnect with her feminine identity. However, the idea that gender makes one inferior

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1152 Words | 5 Pages

It is clear that men and women have two different cultures in Shakespeare’s time, and the relationship between the two was hierarchical. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, it is obvious that the feminine emotions are far less desirable than the masculine. When Lady Macbeth plots to kill Duncan in order for Macbeth to become king, she is aware that he must suppress his natural “love, compassion, pity, [and] remorse” in order to kill Duncan, and she will need to ignore the same emotions, “which she clearly thinks of as feminine” (180). Macbeth, of course, eventually gives in to the gender definitions of his wife and society and kills Duncan. “He is on his way literally and figuratively to becoming the kind of man his wife has urged” (183).

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1657 Words | 7 Pages

She rejected her gender role so she could take matters into her own hands, a move that allowed her to persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan. This action is the cause for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to live in fear that someone may discover what they did, forcing Macbeth to kill those who he perceives dangerous, making him insane. Lady Macbeth, seeing all the trouble she has caused, also goes insane from her guilt. The supernatural are a visual representation of Lady Macbeth’s internal struggles, and they give the reader a better understanding of Lady Macbeth’s character. Lady Macbeth’s rejection of gender roles, illustrated by the supernatural, gave her the ability to control Macbeth, but it was her control that would lead to the downfall and death of her husband and

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1183 Words | 5 Pages

As the Macbeth’s portray the opposite of social constructs and expectations in the play, they eventually fall into their belonged stereotype after Lady Macbeth slowly starts to spiral downhill. Once Macbeth feels as though someone is in the way of him becoming King, he instantly creates a plan to murder them like Lady Macbeth did with Duncan. As they eventually take up each others common behavior, Lady Macbeth drives herself to insanity due to her womanly feelings. “I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.” , she is seen sleepwalking and participating in strange activities due to the insanity driven from guilt (5.1.4-6).

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