gender in macbeth thesis

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THE ROLE OF LADY MACBETH IN SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH: A PRODUCTION THESIS IN ACTING

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Phyllis LeBert

This paper uses gender studies to understand the themes of gender performance further, and more specifically, femininity, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It also explores the many ways feminine gender performance has changed as society has changed. Thus, proving gender is performative rather than innate. It does this by examining first the text within the context of Elizabethan society. Moreover, by examining three pivotal performances of Lady Macbeth through history within the context of their social structures as well. The three performances are that of Sarah Siddons in the Late 18 Century, Ellen Terry in the 19 Century, and Judy Dench in the 20 century.

Saman A Mohammed

William Shakespeare‟s Macbeth was most likely written in 1606, three years into the reign of James I, James VI of Scotland since 1567 before he achieved the English throne in 1603. Macbeth is Shakespeare‟s shortest tragedy yet it is one of his most influential and emotionally intense plays. Macbeth portrays “the paralyzing, almost complete destruction of human spirit” (Shanley 307). Like most of Shakespeare‟s plays, Macbeth deals with the question of kingship and portrays the “problems of legitimacy and succession” surrounding serious political power that belonged to the monarch, the court and the royal councils (Hadfield 27). Numerous historical and literary studies have been conducted about various topics in Macbeth such as human desire, cruelty, and guilt. Gender role and its relation with power also have a great significance to the interpretation of the play. Shakespeare substantially emphasizes the male-female relationship and gender dynamic and does not seem to treat gender simply as binary example of male/female. Shakespeare shows the relationship between gender and power which can be related to the patriarchal discourse of early modern England. He portrays women as major determinants in men‟s actions but “their function varies throughout the canon” and also in distinct categories of either “good or evil, victims or monsters” (Berggren 18, 11). Men are portrayed as strong willed and courageous, but female character like Lady Macbeth is also given a ruthless, power-hungry personality, which is typically, in the period, more associated with masculinity. Lady Macbeth, one of the main characters in Macbeth, is deeply ambitious and her role is essentially important to further understanding Shakespeare‟s presentation of female characters. In this paper, I will provide a brief context of Macbeth in terms of contemporary issues about sovereignty. I will closely examine the role of women in Macbeth, precisely Lady Macbeth, in Macbeth‟s downfall, particularly focusing on how and why Lady Macbeth is an unsettling and disruptive force to the order of the sovereignty. The paper will cover the contemporary issue of witchcraft, to suggest that Lady Macbeth‟s gender can be associated with supernatural subversion, as well as sexual temptation and the period‟s perspective about it. The paper discusses masculinity in relation to Lady Macbeth and the relationship between the plays actions and the natural order to suggest that natural order better reveals Lady Macbeth‟s disruption as well as the notion of monster in Macbeth. This essay will end by discussing the significance of the events that happen to both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the murder act and a conclusion.

Ramona Rizescu

Elizabeth Britannia

Journal of Education and Practice

Mohammad Tajuddin

Marcia Eppich-Harris

Emer McHugh

Shakespeare

Coen Heijes

Alexander Decker

Cornelia Feraru

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Gender and Manliness in Macbeth

• Atteq ur Rahman

Macbeth has remained one of the most fascinating works produced by Shakespeare which is why commentators have analyzed it from multiple dimensions. This paper analyzes the gender roles that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and Macduff and Lady Macduff perform during the action of the play. It traces how the concept of manhood in the sixteenth century hierarchy of gender roles is challenged and defended by the mentioned couples respectively. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth display a deviation from the gender roles already established in the then society. They defy the stereotypical gender roles between a dominant husband and a submissive wife which were quite common in medieval times. In contrast, Lady Macduff and Macduff reflect the established equation of gender roles as per the norms of the society they lived in. In the course of the play, the notion of manliness has been challenged, and reshaped throughout the action of the play; however, in the first part, it is mainly reduced to inhumaneness of character and blind aggression. The aggressive and inhuman ideals of masculinity are countered in the second half of the play with the focus shifting to Lord and Lady Macduff.  The playwright shifts the audience’s attention to these two characters at a point when Lord and Lady Macbeth appear to fail in their “perverted” way of life. However, at the end of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s faulty sense of gender expectations stops them from differentiating between manliness and monstrosity, which ultimately transforms them from becoming a worthy gentleman and honorable lady.

Adelman, Janet. "Born of Woman: Fantasies of Maternal Power in Macbeth." In Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender, ed. Garner, Shirley Nelson, and Madelon Sprengnether. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996. pp.105-134. Print.

Berger, Harry, Jr. “Texts against Performance in Shakespeare.” In The Forms of Power and the Power of Forms. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Genre15: 49-79. 1982. Print.

Bever, Edward. "Witchcraft, Female Aggression, and Power in the Early Modern Community." Journal of Social History. 2002. pp. 955-988.

Burnett, Mark Thornton. “The fiend-like Queen”: Rewriting Lady Macbeth.” Parergon 11.1: 1-19. Print.

Davis, Michael. “Courage and Impotence in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.” Sarah Lawrence Essays 4 (February) 7-29. 1979. Print.

Fawkner, Harald William. Deconstructing Macbeth: The Hyperontological View. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1990. Print.

French, Marilyn. Shakespeare’s Division of Experience. New York: Ballentine Books. 1983. Print.

Jean E. Howard. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. 2579-2632. Print.

Kahn, Coppelia. Man’s Estate: Masculine Identity in Shakespeare. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1981. Print.

Kimbrough, Robert. “Macbeth as Prisoner of Gender.” Shakespeare Studies 16: pp. 175-90.1983. Print.

Klein, Joan Larsen. "Lady Macbeth: Infirm of Purpose." In The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare, ed. Lenz, Carolyn Ruth Swift, Gayle Greene, and Carol Thomas Neely. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1980. pp. 240-255. Print.

Ramsey, Jarold. “The Perversion of Manliness in Macbeth.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 13, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (Spring, 1973), pp. 285-300

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Macbeth." The Norton Shakespeare, Based on the Oxford Edition. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Katharine Eisaman Maus

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Gender in Macbeth

There were few social codes that were more important to people in jacobean england than the codes of conduct for how men and women should behave. our gender assigned us the role that we should play in society and breaking or bending them would have been frowned upon by anyone in the mainstream., but at the heart of macbeth is a couple who break the traditional gender roles, and in doing so flip the entire kingdom on its head., most modern writers tend to focus on how lady macbeth challenges the traditional gender role by being a woman who desired political power, though i'd argue that this misses the real core of the play which was macbeth wrestling with his masculinity., in a post feminist world, it's easy to look at historic men as having freedoms that women didn't have, and although this was true, it didn't mean that men weren't also shaped by powerful expectations on how to behave., the unwritten codes of masculinity and femininity were powerful. macbeth and his wife break them, seize power and bring havoc on the kingdom..

Masculinity in Macbeth

Given how many men would have seen battle, it's no surprise that a lot of masculinity has its roots in the army: you remain loyal to your brotherhood; you don't flinch at the sight of blood; you shouldn't feel emotions like fear or sadness; you should be brave and honourable; you remain true to your word, and maintain a sense of honour and dignity, protecting both with your life., in fact, it wasn't uncommon for men during elizabethan or jacobean england to fight to the death if they were accused of lacking honour, or breaking their word. you can see some of the 'best' of jacobean masculinity by looking at the codes of chivalry that medieval knights used to live by., however, there's also a strange irony here: a lot of the old codes of masculinity were also rooted in protecting women, and as times have gone by the idea of protecting women started to change until it became oppressing them. when you think about the outcomes, it's no surprise that 'protecting' and 'oppressing' end up being so similar, though the initial desire is very different. whichever way you look at it, by jacobean england - and for many centuries afterwards - women were kept locked up at home and were actively discouraged from seeking any role in public life., as a play macbeth encourages this attitude by presented the horrors that come about when masculinity is tempted and led astray by a woman (in many respects it's really just a re-telling of the story of adam and eve. ), on these terms the plot is quite simple:, macbeth is a good man - heroic, brave, loyal, etc... but he cannot stand up to the women in his life (either his wife or the witches) and so he breaks one of the most fundamental codes of masculinity and betrays and murders a man who is his friend, his family member, and his king - while the man was visiting his house macbeth explores what happens when a man chooses his loyalty to his wife over his loyalty to his masculine code of honour. in the end, as was to be expected ends up breaking even more codes of honour: he kills his best friend; he kills macduff's wife and child; and, in the end, he can't even save his wife., one of the most telling features of macbeth, however, is the role of the play's hero: macduff. firstly, macduff chooses his loyalty to the kingdom over his wife (which is why his wife gets killed without his protection); and secondly he is, quite literally, the furthest any man can be from womanhood: he is not even of woman born. and, in fact, to look at the actual language being used, macduff wasn't just 'not born of woman' his birth was an act of violence against women because he was from his "mother's womb untimely ripped.", key quotes:, the sergeant's speech during a1 s2 - so much of this speech is setup to establish macbeth as a heroic, brave and honourable man. the fact that he has earned " brave macbeth " as his name - and remember how important names were to jacobean men; the fact that his sword " smoked with bloody execution " confirms that he is killing with duncan's law on his side; and the fact that he " carved his passage ," while " disdaining fortune " suggests that he makes his own rules and doesn't worry about money or fate to guide him., my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, / shakes so my single state of man that function / is smother'd - here, m a cbeth is arguing that the thought of killing duncan is so abhorr e nt to his masculin ity (his "state of man") that "function is smothered" which means he won't be able to act on it. there's a really interesting extension thought here which argues that the "state of man" is actually the patriarchy itself - the "state" by which "man" governs. and in this respect, you could argue that the way he's influenced by the witches and his wife is actually a threat to the patriarchy itself., he's here in double trust - this comes from the speech macbeth delivers in a1 s7 where he lists a whole host of reasons why killing duncan is an affront to his masculinity, not least the fact that duncan trusts him and macbeth is about to break his word and betray and murder a family member, a friend and an honourable king., to show an unfelt sorrow is an office / which the false man does easy. - malcolm says this after his father's dead body is discovered. essentially, malcolm doesn't trust those around him because he knows that they lie. the key here is that a "false man" can lie and cheat, things which were traditionally considered to be more feminine traits - though when women did them they were considered to be sly and cunning, both of which were considered more feminine., when you durst do it, then you were a man, i dare do all that may become a man; / who dares do more is none., macbeth spends quite a lot of the play trying to prove that he's a man. during the opening he single-handedly fights off the norwegians to prove his masculinity. his wife, however, has different ideas of what constitutes a man and she wants to see him take the throne. in order to do this, she challenges him by claiming that he's not a real man unless he kills duncan. this puts macbeth in a difficult situation, as if he betrays duncan then he's betraying his masculine loyalty, but if he doesn't his wife will think him less masculine and he'll feel the shame from that. in the end he kills duncan, and suffers the consequences., killing banquo and macduff's wife and children - having first betrayed his masculinity by siding with his wife's vision of it and killing duncan, macbeth does two of the worst things a man can do: he kills his best friend, a defenceless woman and a child. and if that wasn't bad enough, in both of these cases he went one step worse and arranged for someone else to actually carry out the murders. before she's murdered though lady macduff launches into an attack against her husband for leaving them defenceless. in the play this serves two purposes: on one level it makes her death seem less tragic, as she clearly didn't understand why it was more important for macduff to stay with his king rather than defend his family; and on another level it emphasises how little either she or lady macbeth really understand about the roles and responsibilities of men - and remember that the two of them are the only female characters in the play who were even given names, so it's really a comment about women in general., feel it as a man - when macduff hears that his wife and children are dead malcolm tells him to "dispute it like a man." malcolm is both encouraging macduff to join him in his battle against macbeth, and he is reminding him that it is his male duty to avenge himself. macduff says he will but first he must "feel it as a man." this is really telling, as it shows that macduff can transcend genders. but he's not like lady macbeth who wants to be rid of gender, macduff will revenge himself like a man, but first he will feel it - which means embracing what is considered more feminine., from my mother's womb untimely ripped - the more i read macbeth the more misogynist i find it - which means that the play seems to be quite insulting to women. this isn't to say that shakespeare was a misogynist, but this is definitely a misogynist play, and this fact is never better highlighted than remembering the fact that macduff - the hero of the play - was as far as it is possible to be from womanhood. bear in mind that shakespeare could have chosen anything unique about macduff to give us that great twist at the end, but he chose to use someone whose main feature is that they are not, in any way, associated with women. and not only that, this man is so far from women that he was created from an act of violence against women. this is pretty horrific to think about, but perhaps more understandable when you reflect on the fact that this was written to please king james who lost his mother when he was less than one-year-old and who, quite possibly, could have related to someone who was from their mother "untimely ripped.", femininity in macbeth, one of the first things to reflect on in macbeth is that there are only a few female characters in the play: the three witches, hecate, lady macbeth, lady macduff and a servant of lady macbeth's. that's it. and from that list, the three witches, hecate and lady macbeth are all pretty evil characters, while lady macduff only really appears briefly before being killed., this play is not shakespeare's finest moment when it comes to female parts., having said that, by modern terms, lady macbeth is a pretty rockingly good part to play - she's got some amazing lines, and really runs the show... right up to the point when she gets killed / kills herself for reasons that remain a little unclear. you can read more about this when i looked at guilt ., but the fact is that the female characters in this play are almost all evil, corrupting influences; and the only one that isn't is lady macduff whose only real job is to die. this isn't a surprise though, because, as a play, macbeth is just very misogynist. this doesn't mean that shakespeare was a misogynist, though this particular play probably is; and it doesn't mean that interpreting the play this way makes me - or you - a misogynist, since calling out misogyny where you see it is a feminist act, not a misogynist one., it's actually quite hard to look at the feminine in macbeth though - the witches are clearly evil, and are described almost straight away as looking like men; lady macbeth is also evil, and almost straight away she casts a magic spell to remove gender from her. so really, even the female characters have their genders quite muddled., what there is in this play, however, is a group of women who desire power - the witches like causing havoc and control macbeth to bring that, while lady macbeth is clearly the ambitious one in her relationship. in this respect, the play itself is a warning against allowing women too much power. when women try to seize power, the natural order collapses. to get another view on this, it's worth checking out this page that looks at the play as being a reworking of the story of adam and eve ., as a final point about this, it's worth bearing something important in mind:, shakespeare wrote this play to please king james, and king james had quite a troubled upbringing: his dad was killed, then his mum married the man who'd killed him; then she was exiled from scotland, and then jailed in england - and all that happened before james was one year old. in the end, james was brought up by his uncle, a man who'd openly said that he didn't think women should ever sit on the throne. james's mum was eventually beheaded by queen elizabeth when james was 21-years-old., given his quite tumultuous upbringing, it's not a surprise that james had some clear issues with women. issues that eventually led him to write a book that justified his fear of witches, and led him to try, torture and then burn at the stake a woman called agnes sampson , who'd apparently drowned a cat in order to invoke a storm that made james's wife a little seasick., anyway, the net result is that although this play is very misogynist, that's not necessarily shakespeare's fault because he wrote this play to impress the new king, who probably was really quite misogynist. in fact, there is some evidence to suggest that shakespeare didn't even like this play very much, evidence to suggest he thought it was a " tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. " and that's the kind of line that makes me wonder what he'd think about us all teaching it 400 years later....

Macbeth and Oedipus

This is a bit of a weird one, so hold onto your hats before you go down the rabbit-hole....

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Macbeth — Gender Roles and Lady Macbeth

Gender Roles and Lady Macbeth

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Published: Jun 29, 2018

Words: 1185 | Pages: 2.5 | 6 min read

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• Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books.
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• Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Sage Publications.
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• Smith, P. B., Bond, M. H., & Kagitcibasi, C. (2006). Understanding social psychology across cultures: Engaging with others in a changing world. Sage Publications.

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Gender Roles in Macbeth

This essay will explore the representation of gender roles in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” It will examine how characters like Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the witches challenge and conform to the gender norms of the Elizabethan era. The piece will discuss the play’s exploration of themes such as power, ambition, and masculinity. It will also consider how gender dynamics contribute to the tragic downfall of the characters and the moral implications of their actions. More free essay examples are accessible at PapersOwl about Gender.

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In Macbeth, William Shakespeare comments on gender roles in the 17th century, conveying the distinct separation between male and female duties in life. Women were seen as domestic caretakers whose main role in society consisted of tending to their husbands, children, and household; while men dominated the worlds of decision making, politics, and finance (Sucese Lecture Notes 1/29).

As male and female roles were so distinct in society characteristics began to become associated with them. Women were expected to be dependent, submissive, and have no opinion or ambitions, while men were expected to be ambitious, independent, and strong (Sucese Lecture Notes 1/29).These gender roles and attributes largely stemmed from the idea that women were inherently evil and manipulative, leading to the view that men must take control in relationships and daily living in order to suppress women’s tendencies (Sucese Lecture Notes 1/29). This view of women can be traced back to the idea that women were like Eve, manipulative and deceiving, and that if they were not controlled, they could use their femininity to manipulate males into committing atrocities (Sucese Lecture Notes 1/29). In Macbeth, Shakespeare challenges gender roles by intertwining both masculine and feminine characteristics into characters, ultimately conveying that is not gender, but the nature of the person that determines how they act.

Perhaps the most prominent portrayal of intertwined gender roles in Macbeth is the character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is an ambitious, strong, and violent woman; characteristics that were largely thought of as masculine in the 17th century. Although she has characteristics that equal that of males, Lady Macbeth is unable to pursue her ambitions because of the social constraints on women during that time. As she is unable to pursue things herself, she instead channels her energy into manipulating her husband to do what she would do had she been born male. In fact, Lady Macbeth states “…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” (Macbeth.1.5.17), this conveys her desires to be male so she could follow her ambitions. In order to do this, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into thinking that her ambitions are also his, leading him to murder King Duncan so that he can gain power (Macbeth.1.7.23). Even after the murder of King Duncan it is Lady Macbeth that is the source of reassurance and strength for her husband. While her husband becomes weak and emotionally frail, Lady Macbeth continues to convey her strength and mental stability conveying that she believes her husband is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness” (Macbeth.1.5.16), essentially saying that he is too weak to behave as a male should. However, Lady Macbeth’s stability and strength lasts only for a short time, and eventually she becomes consumed with guilt as she becomes increasingly sensitive (Macbeth.5.1.82.). This feminine characteristic of sensitivity eventually leads to the demise of Lady Macbeth, as she can no longer maintain the strength that she had before, ultimately leading to her suicide.

Through Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare conveys the idea that just because a woman is a woman, does not mean that they do not have the ambitions and strength of a man. He completely throws away the societal view of how women should act, and brings to light how women have the same capacity as men, and that they are able to be the source of opinions and ambitions in a relationship. This is shown in act one when Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to go through with the murder of King Duncan, saying to him, “but screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we’ll not fail” (Macbeth.1.7.23).Through this quote it is clear that Lady Macbeth is the source of power, ambition, and strength in her relationship with Macbeth, propelling him to do what he thinks he cannot. Shakespeare also uses this quote to show how ambitious women use their femininity to persuade their male counterparts to take various actions. Lady Macbeth also essentially ridicules Macbeth, saying that her courage is steadfast even though she is a woman, and that he needs to have the same courage because he is man. The view of a women as both feminine and masculine was abnormal in a century so tightly bound to specific gender roles and female inferiority. In Macbeth, Shakespeare essentially puts all women on the same playing field as men.

Another prominent portrayal of male attributes in females is the three witches. Throughout the play, they tap into Macbeth’s inner desire for power and give him false security in his actions. Without the witches it is unlikely that Macbeth would have gone through with the murder of King Duncan, as it was their words that placed the thought in his mind and made him think that was his destiny (Macbeth.1.3.12). The Witches are the only characters in Macbeth that not only portray masculine and feminine characteristics inwardly but have physical characteristics that make it hard to outwardly define their gender. Although the witches are sisters, they have beards that cause characters in Macbeth to become confused with the ambiguity of their gender. This shown through Banquo’s first interaction with the Witches when he says, “You should be women, / And yet your beads forbid me to interpret / That you are so” (Macbeth.1.3.8). For the most part, the Witches words and actions can be seen as traditionally female, as they use manipulation in order to meddle with the minds of various characters, but they can also be seen as male because of the strength in their words and the respect that they command. The way in which they use words brings dark, unconscious thoughts to the surface for characters, which is specifically shown through Macbeth, as they bring to light his unconscious desire for power by hailing him as king (Macbeth.1.3.9.). Once these dark thoughts take a place in the characters minds, they are not easily displaced, starting a chain reaction of events that lead to the climax of the play.

Although Lady Macbeth and the Three Witches portray women with male attributes, there are characters in Macbeth that show the opposite – men with female attributes. The best example of this in Macbeth is Macbeth. In the play, Shakespeare uses Macbeth to convey what happens to men when they take on female characteristics while also emphasizing his point that gender is not inherent to character. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth shows a lack male attributes and instead expresses himself as weak and frail; characteristics that a female is supposed to have. He shows this through his anxieties and worries about killing King Duncan, and becomes very close to not committing the murder because of it (Macbeth.1.7.22.) However, in the end his wife persuades him to, which shows a further lack of strength in masculine attributes for Macbeth as it indicates lacks of courage. This is because males are not supposed to listen to the inferior opinion of women, and conveys that Macbeth is taking on a feminine role in his relationship with his wife. While Macbeth has his own ambitions of gaining power, it is his conscious that stops him from doing everything he can to attain it. Unlike Lady Macbeth who becomes increasingly frail as the play goes on, Macbeth becomes less emotional and more in tune to the violent, ambitious part of him that represents his masculinity. Shakespeare uses Macbeth in the same way he uses Lady Macbeth, which is to convey that gender does not determine character. Macbeth may be male, but he acts like a weak and emotionally frail women who needs support and validation from a more powerful figure in her life. The fact that Macbeth needed that validation and support from a female would have been embarrassing in the 16th century, and any normal male in that time period would have been ridiculed and labeled as a shell of a man.

In contrast to Macbeth, Malcom represent the epitome of manhood in the 17th century. While Macbeth tries to gain power by deception and murder, Malcom gains power by using his intelligence and fortitude. Not only that, but Malcom’s drive to attain power comes from within him, whereas Macbeth’s ambitions are driven by his wife. Malcom’s intelligence is shown specifically in his interactions with Macduff. He uses his wit to test the loyalty of Macduff by conveying that he is a greedy and overly ambitious man that would be a worse ruler than Macbeth. When Macduff shows his grief at these statements, Malcom decides to trust him and reveal his true nature (Macbeth.4.3.75.). Through this interaction, Malcom shows how he hopes to strengthen good within the Kingdom by ruling with virtue and restraint, instead of evil and desire. Shakespeare uses Malcom to show how a proper man and ruler should act by emphasizing the clear divide between the character of Malcom and Macbeth. He also conveys that if one acts with good intentions then the end result will always be better than if they had not.

Through his use of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, The Witches, and Malcom, Shakespeare breaks down gender roles in in the 16th century while questioning the validity of them. He uses Lady Macbeth to portray how women do actually have the capability of men both professionally and mentally, but have to hide their ambitions due to social constraints. The Three Witches represent an ambiguity in gender and dark thoughts driven by the want for power. They use their words in a confusing yet reassuring manner that manipulates the characters but provides a sense of reassurance at the same time. Macbeth is used to portray that men have the capacity to be like women, while Malcolm is used as an example of how a proper man without female influence should act. Shakespeare’s use of Macbeth calls into question the unwarranted power that society gives the male gender just because they are male. Overall, Shakespeare uses various characters in Macbeth to raise questions about gender roles while conveying that the personality traits each character has is not linked to their gender, but instead to their inherent nature. 

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Gender Roles in Macbeth. (2021, Apr 16). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/gender-roles-in-macbeth/

"Gender Roles in Macbeth." PapersOwl.com , 16 Apr 2021, https://papersowl.com/examples/gender-roles-in-macbeth/

PapersOwl.com. (2021). Gender Roles in Macbeth . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/gender-roles-in-macbeth/ [Accessed: 1 Jul. 2024]

"Gender Roles in Macbeth." PapersOwl.com, Apr 16, 2021. Accessed July 1, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/gender-roles-in-macbeth/

"Gender Roles in Macbeth," PapersOwl.com , 16-Apr-2021. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/gender-roles-in-macbeth/. [Accessed: 1-Jul-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2021). Gender Roles in Macbeth . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/gender-roles-in-macbeth/ [Accessed: 1-Jul-2024]

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