In the tragedy of “Macbeth”, Shakespeare explores and challenges the idea of traditional gender roles where the female characters are seen with the strong masculine traits, whilst the men are seen to have more of the feminine traits. One of society's typical gender norms is that men are essentially the strength of the family, whilst the women are more of the caring role and often times labelled as emotional and inferior. Within the first few acts of the play, Lady Macbeth is introduced and slowly gaining the sense of dominance and power over her husband within the relationship. Shakespeare portrays gender roles as not being a stereotypical, and that the gender of a person does not necessarily define who they are as a person or how they act.
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This shows an excellent example of how gender roles become indistinguishable, as they show the confusion that results from manipulated ambition when love and power are at stake.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth also exchange roles in terms of their expression of guilt. Lady Macbeth’s character acts unaffected by the murder of King Duncan. This interaction is shown through the scene in which Lady Macbeth handles Macbeth when she informs him to leave the dagger at the scene of which the murder happened:
“Coward!
Give me the daggers
Dead and sleeping people can’t hurt you anymore than pictures …show more content…
Another example showing the reverse in gender norms is when Lady Macbeth states:
“I have suckled a baby, And I know how sweet it is to love the baby at my breast.
But even as the baby was smiling up at me,
I would have plucked my nipple out of its mouth
And smashed its brains out against a wall if I had sworn to do that the same way you have
Sworn to do this”
This adds to the dark and disturbing image of how powerful and emotionless Lady Macbeth is compared to Macbeth himself.
Of course, as Lady Macbeth begins to unravel, Macbeth begins to develop a more dominant force. She no longer has the power to persuade him to murder as he soon begins to start to do it on his own. This can be seen through when if Macbeth fears someone, he automatically plans out for their murder. This is shown through a clear example of when Macbeth planned for Banquo’s murder:
“They can be killed, it’s true
So be cheerful
Before the bat flies through the
This shows an excellent example of how gender roles become indistinguishable, as they show the confusion that results from manipulated ambition when love and power are at stake.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth also exchange roles in terms of their expression of guilt. Lady Macbeth’s character acts unaffected by the murder of King Duncan. This interaction is shown through the scene in which Lady Macbeth handles Macbeth when she informs him to leave the dagger at the scene of which the murder happened:
“Coward!
Give me the daggers
Dead and sleeping people can’t hurt you anymore than pictures …show more content…
Another example showing the reverse in gender norms is when Lady Macbeth states:
“I have suckled a baby, And I know how sweet it is to love the baby at my breast.
But even as the baby was smiling up at me,
I would have plucked my nipple out of its mouth
And smashed its brains out against a wall if I had sworn to do that the same way you have
Sworn to do this”
This adds to the dark and disturbing image of how powerful and emotionless Lady Macbeth is compared to Macbeth himself.
Of course, as Lady Macbeth begins to unravel, Macbeth begins to develop a more dominant force. She no longer has the power to persuade him to murder as he soon begins to start to do it on his own. This can be seen through when if Macbeth fears someone, he automatically plans out for their murder. This is shown through a clear example of when Macbeth planned for Banquo’s murder:
“They can be killed, it’s true
So be cheerful
Before the bat flies through the