(An analysis of manhood in Macbeth acts 1-4) Manhood is a term used relatively often in the play Macbeth by Mr. William Shakespeare. Being a man means you are no longer a boy, or child and you are mature and not considered a child anymore. Throughout the first four acts of the play, many men are asked if they are men or not and many are not asked, just accused. Macbeth is a play about a man that gets so caught up in having power that he gives up all the good things he had, just to get the power he thinks he wants. The play was written by William Shakespeare in about 1606 while he lived in England. The play has been performed many times and each time it is done a little bit differently in regards to how apparitions and ghosts are shown. In acts 1-4, the theme of manhood is referenced many times, by Lady Macbeth in Act 1, by …show more content…
She wants Macbeth to go through with stabbing the king in his sleep so that he will die and she can be queen. She decides to get the kings bodyguards drunk so that they can go through with their plan and not have extra people to worry about in the process. In Act 2, Scene 2, lines 51-54, right after the murder of King Duncan, she tells him to quit being a wimp by saying, “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures. ‘Tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil.” When Lady Macbeth says “Infirm of purpose!” she is telling him that he is not firm or concrete in his determination to go through with what he wants and needs to do. And when she says “Tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted Devil.” She is saying that he should not be afraid and he needs to man up and quit freaking out over the deed. It is not her, however that calls manhood into question in the next act, it is Macbeth