Jessica Slade English 2201 15 January 2023 Gender roles throughout Macbeth Throughout the play Macbeth, Shakespeare confronts gender roles by intertwining both masculine and feminine traits into the characters. This shows us that gender does not define how one acts; their nature does. In their marriage, Lady Macbeth defies the typical standards for women in the 1600’s by taking on the dominant role by controlling her husband throughout the play and taunting his manhood, while Macbeth submits to his wife and allows her to rule him, which is unlike the standard of men in the 1600’s; who were supposed to hold the dominant, powerful role in a marriage. Throughout the play, gender is clearly out of its traditional order from that of the …show more content…
She wishes to be freed from the shackles of gender, and to have the freedom to act on her masculine traits. She says “Come, you spirits / That tends on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty!”. In this quote, she is expressing that she wants to get rid of her feminine traits----specifically those traits that would prevent her from killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth is stating that she wants to be free of the idea that women are the lesser sex because of their bodies. Lady Macbeth craves to be cold, ruthless and in control, which are typical masculine traits in Shakespeares time. As a result of this she begins manipulating her husband to gain what she wants. She manipulates Macbeth with great effectiveness, which she achieves by undermining his objections to murdering Duncan. when she sees him hesitating to go forward with the murder, she begins repeatedly questioning his manhood until he feels that he must do it just to prove himself and his masculinity; she says “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”. Lady Macbeth abuses her power by planting the idea in her husband's mind that anybody who stood in her and Macbeth’s way on the journey to reach royalty was to be destroyed, and made him feel as if he was less a man if he decided against it. Her harsh behavior and …show more content…
Together, they believe that in order to be a true man, a man must be willing to commit violent acts when necessary. In this tragedy, men---specifically Macbeth---- are expected to be violent and aggressive when necessary to appease their ambitious nature. Time and time again Macbeth falls to Lady Macbeth’s manipulations, and once again gives into her whilst she is pushing him to go through with Duncan's murder. Macbeth has a rather meek personality and would not have gone through with it because of his humanity if Lady Macbeth had not convinced him otherwise. Lady Macbeth views her husbands humanity as his biggest weakness, and believes that it will lead to his downfall. She says “Yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way”. She declares his nature as “too full of the milk of human kindness”. She once again degrades his manhood and states that he is too feeble to carry out the murder of Duncan and not being able to withstand the guilt. She implies that if Macbeth does not go through with the murder, then he is not “masculine” enough to fulfill his ambition of becoming king. Macbeth wants to be a true man, to be able to do what has to be done to get him what he wants, but he is too human, unlike Lady Macbeth who is cold and ruthless, and has no sympathy for those standing in her