MACBETH GENDER Flashcards
“prithee, peace”
cannot withstand the attack on his masculinity as Shakespeare conveys how sensitive and fragile he is. It seems as if a man’s sense of manhood is dependent on the women in his life.
“I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none”
Lady Macbeth is implying Macbeth is not “a man” because he refuses to murder Duncan, suggesting that masculinity is proven with violence, but Macbeth disagrees.
manhood is tied to honour. He argues those who go against the natural order or pursue more power aren’t men, either because they aren’t human or because they aren’t noble. Shakespeare implies there are two ‘types’ of man that people can choose from: one is violent, the other is chivalrous.
a bold one, that dare look on that I Which might appal the devil,”
Eventually Macbeth gives into his wife’s insults and accusations. Indeed, he becomes obsessed with proving his masculinity and changing into the man she wants him to be.
When Lady Macbeth asks, “Are you a man?”
The words “bold” and “dare” emphasise his manly bravery. The phrase “might appal the devil” serves to prove he is stronger than the ultimate source of evil, providing an exaggerated perspective of his manhood.
Both Duncan, the noble and virtuous king, and Macbeth, the dishonest and violent king, end up dead. Does this mean that Shakespeare didn’t agree with either type?
“I had else been perfect; / Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, / As broad and general as the casing air: / But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears,”
Fear and paranoia are deemed to be incompatible with the Jacobean view of masculinity. Within the play the male figures do everything they can to repress or reject these feelings and thereby retain their masculinity.
Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a conflicted character who struggles to keep his fear at bay. In giving into his fear, Macbeth becomes feminised and these contradicting forces add to his fear. After Duncan’s murder he is both scared of the man he has become but also of the masculinity he is losing.
The use of the adjective “perfect” implies fear somehow pollutes or taints manhood. Macbeth is a flawed man because of his “doubts and fears”.
- The similes referring to “marble”, “rock”, and “air” portray men as powerful, strong, and dominant, like nature itself. “Marble” connotes sculptures or luxury, suggesting masculinity is flawlessly constructed by God.
- His “doubts and fears” overwhelm and surround him, and Shakespeare argues this is why Macbeth continues murdering others and being a tyrant - as a means of escape.
“I’ll fight till from my flesh be hacked,” (5.3), and later, “Why should I play the Roman fool and die
Yet Macbeth’s attitudes towards masculinity almost do a full circle. In his final battle he decides he will fight to the death rather than surrendering or committing suicide. He knows he is going to lose but he fights anyway, suggesting that some of his courage and honour have been restored to him.
In the army, it was considered more honourable to die in battle than to surrender.
Shakespeare’s audience would recognise this decision as the sign of a noble hero and a real man. it is possible that this scene shows Macbeth can only thrive in battle, thus masculinity is associated once more with violence.
“stanchless avarice”, and his “voluptuousness”
Though most of the play explores masculinity through the definition of violence and bravery, Shakespeare offers an alternative, deeper, more emotional form of manhood through Malcolm and Macduff. This form of masculinity seems to triumph overall, as Malcolm becomes king. He restores order to his kingdom even though his understanding of manhood differs from the norm.
Malcolm’s attempts to test Macduff’s morals and loyalties are interesting in their presentation of the ideal man.
associating masculinity with unstoppable sexual desire. His fabricated personality is the epitome of the aggressive lust society encourages in men.
“Boundless intemperance / In nature is a tyranny,”
suggest men are encouraged to be tyrants.
Patriarchy grants men unconditional power, allowing them to indulge every need.
“All my pretty ones? I Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / At one fell swoop?”
A revelatory moment in the presentation of masculinity in Macbeth is when Macduff learns of the slaughter of his children and wife.
The repetitive questions, exclamations, and broken speech convey his extreme emotional distress, making him appear unmasculine in the traditional sense. The phrase
“my pretty ones” expresses deep paternal love, suggesting masculinity can be tender and loving.
“Dispute it like a man,” (4.3), planning to “make us med’cines of our great revenge / To cure this deadly grief,” (4.3)
Malcolm tells Macduff
suggesting the appropriate manly response would be to wage war on his enemy. At this point, Malcolm’s idea of masculinity seems to be close-minded, in line with his society’s.
“I shall do so; / But I must also feel it as a man; / I cannot but remember such things were / That were most precious to me, “
marks a moment of learning both for Malcolm and Shakespeare’s audience.
Macduff implies that repressing his grief would be a denial of his love, and would be unfair to his family’s memory. Shakespeare suggests the stone heart of masculinity is unnatural.
“may pour [her] spirits in [his] ear”
The female characters transcend gender boundaries within the play and are given agency by Shakespeare. Their words and the consequences they have are the driving force behind the plot. Yet they have rejected their femininity in order to have this power.
Lady Macbeth’s character is highly significant in Shakespeare’s presentation of gender.
The traditional subservient wife figure has been entirely rejected by Shakespeare, instead she is manipulative and domineering in her marriage. Her lust for power drives the plot forward and she attacks Macbeth’s manhood to get what she wants. while she orchestrates their plan she doesn’t commit any acts of violence herself.
Lady Macbeth’s manipulation of Macbeth associates femininity with the fall of man. Her bullying leads to Macbeth’s tragic downfall in the same way Eve convinced Adam to eat the Forbidden Fruit. She can be viewed as a femme fatale, an archetype of femininity where a woman charms and seduces her lover, to his detriment.
The reference to
“spirits” connotes the occult, as if she wants to possess Macbeth.
Shakespeare links witchcraft with a woman’s dominance over her husband, implying that it is unnatural for women to have power over men.
“May pour (her) spirits in (his) ear”
An alternative interpretation is that Shakespeare is criticising how society denies women their own freedom and autonomy.
Lady Macbeth only has to manipulate and possess Macbeth because her
power and status are directly tied to his. “Pouring]” her “spirits” into his “ear” may be a metaphor for how her desires can only be fulfilled by a male form. Macbeth is her puppet because she cannot do it herself, instead she has to rely on her husband for everything.
Shakespeare could be showing that men bring their downfalls on themselves by denying women power.
This has historically been seen as
one of the most threatening things a woman can do, and is often associated with femmes fatales. Refusing to be a mother meant denying a man the ability to immortalise himself through his children.
She asks to be filled “from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty”, for her
“blood” to be made “thick”, for “the access and passage to remorse” to be stopped up, and for “no compunctious visitings of nature [to] / Shake [her] fell purpose”.
is important to note that Lady Macbeth rejects her femininity within the play, and it is implied that this act is what enables her to pursue her ambition. Her most famous soliloquy is in Act 1, Scene 5, when she calls upon “spirits” to “unsex” her.
This first set of demands deal with the emotional or hormonal aspects of womanhood. Early medicine believed people’s emotional states were determined by different fluids in their bodies, the humors. Thick blood meant someone had a cold heart. Thick blood would also stop her menstruating, a sign of her femininity and therefore weakness preventing her from killing the king.
It should also be noted that in the Jacobean era, witches were believed to have “thick blood”. Most witches’ were old women, meaning they were menopausal, and could no longer produce “milk” to feed their children.
Lady Macbeth therefore is not only calling upon “spirits” to help her: she wants her body to become like that of a witches.
“Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall”
physical and visible proof of her femininity more directly than before. She wants all proof of it gone, as all signs are obstacles to her plan. Her “breasts” and
“milk” are significant for motherhood, so Lady Macbeth is rejecting her duty to be a mother. This has historically been seen as
one of the most threatening things a woman can do, and is often associated with femmes fatales. Refusing to be a mother meant denying a man the ability to immortalise himself through his children.
“unsex[ed]”
to be able to do all the cruel and violent things she plans. Therefore, while as a female character she serves to present femininity
as powerful and violent, her language suggests the opposite. If she is successful in “unsex[ing]” herself, then her murderous behaviour is the opposite of femininity. Shakespeare either associates it with being genderless or being masculine.
By linking being “unsex[ed]” with
“spirits”, Shakespeare suggests you lose your humanity if you defy your gender roles.
