ipl-logo

Macbeth Manliness Analysis

615 Words3 Pages

MACBETH
In the play “Macbeth” Shakespeare uses opposing characters to give the theme of manliness. The two main characters that he uses to show this theme are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Through this play both of these characters use many forms of showing manliness and/or not showing manliness either through them saying or doing something or something being said by another character. Though both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both show manliness one is shown to be more manly than the other. Lady Macbeth’s qualities show her to be more of a manly character then a feminine, she tries to present herself as ambitious, manipulative, and emotionless. These traits are shown in act I when she is planning the murder of King Duncan. “Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear: And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round” (Crowther, I,v., 2005). This shows her …show more content…

Though there is no true evidence Lady Macbeth ends up killing herself, and Macbeth questions why he should kill himself “ Why should I play the Roman fool and die On mine own sword?” (Crowther, V,viii., 2005). This shows that he will not take the same fate as his wife by dying at his own hand. Soon after this he is killed by Macduff. Macbeth also has to be manipulated by his wife questioning his manliness because as stated by his wife he “To full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” (Crowther, I,v., 2005). So though both of these characters show manliness nether of them are really more or less manly than the other.
Even though Lady Macbeth is presented as more manly than Macbeth through the play neither of them are more or less manly than the other. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth show ambition, and no emotion equally and they both die a coward’s

Show More
Related
789 Words | 4 Pages

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a power hungry and vindictive women, whose character is against the stereotypes of a Jacobean woman. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a deceptive woman, who uses the fact that she is a woman as a weapon. ‘Why, worthy thane, you do unbend your noble strength to think.’ Lady Macbeth is talking to Macbeth.

Read More
1476 Words | 6 Pages

Men were supposed to act as strong fighters, while women were locked in the domestic sphere. These gender roles are prominent in the character developments of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At first, Macbeth is a strong, heroic solider that shows unbounded courage in battle and loyalty to his king. As the play progresses, he becomes cold, ruthless, and miserable. Lady Macbeth takes on a “manly” role, which is surprising because of how patriarchal the society is.

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

In the beginning Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was a ruthless and masculine woman. She showed the audience that, mentally and emotionally, she was stronger than Macbeth. Although as the story started to continue the audience began to see that she was becoming mentally insane. Throughout the story there was also evidence of shakespeare showing the more masculinity you had the more cuel you became.

Read More
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

Read More
402 Words | 2 Pages

Lady Macbeth is calling to the spirits to assist her murderous ideations and to do that make her less of a women and more like man which will then fill her with deadly cruelty. This supports how she feels, about needing to be manly to commit these horrible

Read More
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).

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

Lady Macbeth tried and attempted to fasten onto Macbeth’s inner feelings and attacked his level of masculinity. He is a easy person to manipulate once the future queen questioned his manliness. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he cannot go through with killing King Duncan, she proceeds to tell him that he is a coward. To further convince her husband to kill Duncan is the utmost importance she said that she “would, while (her unborn child) was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed his brains out.” (Act 1, Scene 7, Lines

Read More
1372 Words | 6 Pages

but is then cast aside by her husband at the end. Shakespeare thus presents masculinity in both a positive and negative light. In Act 1, Shakespeare presents Macbeth with admired masculine qualities countered with Lady Macbeth criticising his idiosyncrasies. Lady Macbeth’s definition of a man is disparate to others’.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Lady Macbeth in the beginning of the play is manipulative, most of the times she manipulates her husband into doing either what she wants or what she thinks he should do. For example, when Macbeth does not want to kill Duncan anymore, Lady Macbeth convinces him by saying “from this time such I account thy love. Art thou afeared to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire? (I.vii line 38-41). Besides, the audience see Lady Macbeths is influencing her husband’s feelings by she is using her love as a weapon because she is saying do it

Read More
632 Words | 3 Pages

There are some quotes in the play that really demonstrate how Lady Macbeth questioned Macbeth’s Manhood. There is a part where Lady Macbeth says 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." In this quote it demonstrates to us how Lady Macbeth questioned Macbeth’s Manhood in order to convince him to do things that would demonstrate that he actually is a “man” and according to Lady Macbeth doing what in this case was murdering King Duncan would make Macbeth much more than a man. In conclusion and in my opinion Manhood is one of the biggest factors in the play.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the protagonist desperately tries to live up to the image of a man that his society portrays. The search for his manhood leads him to violent acts that inevitably get him killed. In this tragedy, male and female roles are constantly discussed and defined. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity to violence and aggression. They both believe that in order to be a real man, then a man must perform violent acts when necessary.

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

Well Lady Macbeth, who is dead set on having absolute power, disagrees with that. She convinces Macbeth to kill, to cover up the murders, and tries to convince him that these murders will get them to the top. Lady Macbeth calls upon the witches and states, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 lines 31 and 31). This shows that while in the pursuit of power, Lady Macbeth wanted it so much that she asked the witches to “unsex” her and make her more like man. But along with that you see the theme of gender roles are uncertain which ties into Lady Macbeth leading Macbeth in this pursuit of power, also giving him the ambition that she wants him to

Read More
1959 Words | 8 Pages

“Come, you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts,/unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of dire cruelty” (1.5.41-44). Lady Macbeth is the personification of male dominance, ruthlessness and violence. She hopes that she could take control of all action. She yearns to be a man and her implication is that she is more masculine than Macbeth. Her drive and violent nature is more akin to men and their masculinity.

Read More
1183 Words | 5 Pages

In the popular play Macbeth, Shakespeare compares the gender stereotypes portrayed to those different pre-existing ideas from other generations such as the 1900’s, the 50’s, and even today 's society. Macbeth has plenty of examples of the exaggeration of gender roles that clearly differentiate male and female by construing their proper roles as polar opposite or complementary. Examples proving that there are gender stereotypes in Macbeth pertain to characters such as Lady Macbeth, The Witches, and Macbeth himself. In Macbeth, the many different stereotypes of gender roles from throughout the century to today’s society have been displayed in many aspects of the play. With examples of the exaggeration of gender constructs pertaining to the male

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

Celia Beyers Tinti Period 1/5 12 April 2015 Literary Analysis: Macbeth In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he presents the character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is shown, as a character that schemes into making rebellious plots. She reveals the desire for wanting to lose her feminine qualities in order to be able to gain more masculine ones.

Read More

More about Macbeth Manliness Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document