Madeline Ashton March 2012 Sophomore English 3A

Macbeth Essay The relationship between gender and power play a very important role in the storyline of Shakespeares play Macbeth. Throughout the play Shakespeare explores the ideas and values of masculinity. He illustrates how Macbeths violent, evil form of masculinity eventually leads his kingdom into chaos and in the end to Macbeths death. Shakespeare also shows a different kind of masculinity in the character Macduff. Macduff displays a masculinity that is based on justice, not selfish gain. He is the opposite of Macbeth. After learning that Duncan is coming to visit, Lady Macbeth becomes determined to get rid of Duncan and will do anything to obtain his power and see her husband crowned. She asks to be unsexed and to be filled from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty (I.v.45-46). She wants to get rid of her feminine qualities so she can be more of a man, allowing her to follow through with her treacherous plans. Lady Macbeth is the one who introduces the idea of cruel and violent masculinity to Macbeth. She sets in motion the vicious and doomed plan of action to see Macbeth as ruler. Lady Macbeth is not playing the traditional feminine role, as she schemes and convinces Macbeth to take control of the kingdom. Common female characteristics include nurturing, kindness, and goodness. The characteristics she displayed- willingness to kill, lust for power, deception- are usually reserved for men.

Towards the end of the play, when Macduff learns that his family was murdered, he states But I must also feel it as a man (IV.iii.262). Macduff believes he must shoulder some of the responsibility for his familys death and that his actions played a part in their deaths. He also expresses honest grief for Duncans death. Macduff is not afraid to express emotion. He is the only person in the play that shows being a man means being able show your true feelings. In Macbeth, Shakespeare writes about many different faces of masculinity and power. He explored the power that can be gained by a woman when she sheds her usual feminine qualities through Lady Macbeth and he explores the idea of a man who found more power through his emotions with the character Macduff. Both of these characters are unusual in their gender roles for the time but are more realistic because of these differences.