Stereotyping In Macbeth

Women are weaker, over-emotional, and incapable of doing many tasks that men can do. This is one example of the many stereotypes that exists within our world of literature, media, and reality. The gender stereotyping phenomenon can be found in movies, books and many types of media. Take a look at any Disney movie and you will see a wonderful example of gender stereotyping. Following this topic, I will be analyzing the play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare. Macbeth, a play about ambition, power, and fate, defies the stereotypes of men and women’s gender roles. The roles of both genders exceed the reader’s expectations by containing many scenarios where no stereotypes are applied when one would expect it. The gender stereotyping phenomenon has been going around for a long time, and one of the most commonly used stereotypes is

Men are always seen as strong and brave, and do not seem to fear anything. Most literature, and even movies portray this at times. This stereotype shows that men must always be brave and strong, and there should be nothing to fear. Otherwise that individual would be known as a coward or wimp. In reality, it should be normal to fear things. Everyone is scared of at least one thing, whether it's an object, animal, or even the future. In this case, Shakespeare shows that men too could be scared and doubtful because Macbeth himself starts to fear the future and the outcome of his actions, “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” (1.7. 54-56). Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to be a man, and that when he dared to do the deed he was a man. This is a good example to show that men will not always be brave, and might even be scared of something. In this context, Macbeth can be seen being scared of his fate and future. In all, men should also be able to fear things just like women, there is always something that people are afraid