Theme Of Masculinity In Macbeth

“Don’t be such a girl!”, “You act like a girl!”, “Why are you being such a coward?”; all of these are common derogatory sayings used to insult a male. Lady Macbeth constantly says such terms to Macbeth in order to get what she wants. This is simply because she, as well as many other women at the time, were not able to do the same things as Macbeth, or other males. Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth’s vulnerable sense of masculine pride in an attempt to gain power she would not otherwise have access to. Initially, Lady Macbeth takes advantage of Macbeth and his extremely fragile sense of masculinity. One way she does so, is by influencing him verbally. While Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan she says “Was the hope drunk Wherein …show more content…
Macbeth feels that when he murders someone he has power, but really he is still weak. His weakness and vulnerability is shown right after the murder of Duncan when he says “One cried, “God bless us!” and “Amen” the other, As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands. List’ning their fear I could not say “Amen,” When they did say “God bless us!”(Act II Scene II). Macbeth feels so guilty about killing the king that these holy things that the servants cried upset him. One can then see that Lady Macbeth is the more powerful one in their relationship when she replies by saying “Consider it not so deeply.” (Act II Scene II). In the next act, Macbeth cannot go through with killing anyone else so he hires people to murder for him. He tries to act courageous around them by saying “ ‘Tis better thee without than within. Is he dispatched?” (Act III Scene IV). He tells the murderer that he hired that he’d rather see blood on his face than flowing through the veins of the person he wanted killed. From the outside, this statement seems strong and powerful, but it truly is not because Macbeth is not even the one committing the act. Macbeth’s vulnerability is seen clearly when he sees the ghost. Macbeth says “Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me.” (Act III Scene IV). …show more content…
Women were viewed as “evil” or weak. After the murder of Duncan, there was a lot of noise and commotion to notify the kingdom. So, Lady Macbeth asked what was going on and Macduff responded “O gentle lady, ‘Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: The repetition, in a woman’s ear, Would murder as it fell.” (Act II Scene III). Here, Macduff says that the information he was about to share would frighten her because he believed she was fragile just because she was a woman. Little did he know, that she was the one behind the murder. In Act I Scene V, Lady Macbeth has a powerful monologue where she exclaims “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.” (Act IScene V). In this quote, Lady Macbeth simply wants to be treated fairly and requests to be stripped of her gender. The imbalance of gender equality is shown heavily throughout the