Equality In Macbeth

Hoffman introduces the drive behind the siege using this passage. She uses this quote to show a clear contrast between the light of the divine and the darkness of human desire. Hoffman also uses this quote to render a pessimistic mood for this portion of the story by stating that hope is lost and demolished. Additionally, this passage foreshadows Ben Simon’s actions later during the story when he destroyed Yael – a woman he was enthralled to – by obliterating her desire to live on with his own death. In the conclusion of the quote, Hoffman’s statement of “what man yearn for they often destroy” also hints at the hazy boundary between ambition and greed that man often fail to draw. This idea is vividly explored in Shakespeare’s famous play, Macbeth, where Macbeth’s inability to halt his …show more content…
Society is – and always will be – discriminative. In this passage, Yael describes the prejudicial expectation that her society had decreed of each gender. The passage shows how Yael feels when Ben Simon comes to her at night; she’s carrying the mental burden of the affair as the sinner because men are not traditionally blamed for their desires. Unfortunately, this prevalent thought is true even today in spite of extensive gender equality movements. Little improvement had been made regarding sexism and we collectively continue to judge woman and man differently. This is exemplified with the popular reality TV show “Sister Wives”, which oddly continues to be aired as a normality. Much of the time, the viewers are not blaming the male involved in this jumbled relationship but rather criticize the females who are willing to share a husband, labeling them as whores or prostitutes. Hoffman composes this quote to trigger readers to consider the prevalent gender equality movements today: how can we initiate change when even the females themselves are tainted with discriminative