How does Shakespeare present masculinity and femininity in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?

‘Macbeth’ is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1606. It follows a fallen hero, Macbeth, and his
wife, Lady Macbeth, who manipulates Macbeth into committing mass murder. Shakespeare subtly points
the audience to the cause of this discord being a misalignment of gender roles. Lady Macbeth has the
liberty in her relationship to make decisions which was seen as audacious in the austere times in which
this play was written. This essay aims to discuss this.
Macbeth is shown to have lost his morality as his wife keeps chipping away at his confidence in his
masculinity when she says “Are you a man?” He replies, “Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that/
Which might appall the devil.” Macbeth’s use of the adjective ‘bold’ and the word ‘dare’ shows his
masculinity as these are traits that were associated with brave men. However, this takes a sinister turn
when he says that his intention would ‘appall the devil’, he essentially says that he is doing something
that would disgust the ultimate source of evil. He uses such a hyperbole to exaggerate his masculinity.
This would shock the Jacobean audience who held religious values dear to their heart. His use of the word
‘look’ implies that just the act of him intending to kill the king was something that would ‘appall the
devil’; this shows the gravity of this deed which would resonate with the audience this play would be first
shown to because regicide was seen as something divinely evil as the Jacobean people believed that the
king was appointed by God. Macbeth’s act due to his wife’s masculine, aggressive attitude resulted in
him rebelling against religion.
When Fleance escapes Macbeth becomes scared, conflicted and ‘feminized’. He laments in his failure, “I
had else been perfect;/Whole as the marble, founded as rock, /As broad and general as the casing air:/But
now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in/ To saucy doubts and fears.” He glorifies himself as
embodying masculine perfection mentioning similes to natural objects such as ‘marble’, ’rock’ and ‘air’
which displays his power and supremacy just as nature itself is a dominant force. The word ‘marble’
connotes luxurious sculptures like those of the Greek gods, insinuating that his masculinity is something
that is holy. He then juxtaposes this by using a semantic field of ‘cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in’
this creates amplified emotion because of the sudden shift in mood and the repetition of words that denote
how cornered Macbeth feels. His ‘doubts and fears’ overwhelm him, which would be seen as something
feminine, and the fatal flaw which prevented him from being ‘perfect’, this femininity is used by
Shakespeare to argue that the deconstruction of the rigid gender roles caused his downfall; this ties in to
the expectations of the Jacobean audience of there being a natural order that ordained that men be
masculine and women be feminine. Macbeth’s failure to reach these expectations ends in wickedness.
Female dominance is seen to be corrupting men as Lady Macbeth tries her hand at manipulation while
telling Macbeth, “When you durst do it, then you were a man.” She tells Macbeth that he is only a man if
he commits regicide which sets him an ultimatum, classically coercing Macbeth into having no choice but
to do it. She uses the word ‘durst’ meaning dare suggesting he does not have enough courage to kill
Duncan and poses a challenge to him, showing her aggression and intimidating nature. Lady Macbeth
shows how her supremacy in her relationship has made her ruthless when she simply refers to murder as
‘it’ insinuating that she does not find ‘it’ a huge task as she can’t be bothered to mention it by name.
However, it can also be argued that she calls murder ‘it’ to make divert Macbeth’s attention and make
him feel more at ease to do the deed; therefore, manipulating him. She uses the past tense ‘were’ saying
that he used to be a man but on the condition that he was willingly going to kill the king, this condition
again attacks his masculinity which makes him insecure and more inclined to do the deed. Lady
Macbeth’s aggression would shock a 1600s audience and push the notion that female dominance is evil,
since the prevailing belief was that a man is the leader of the household and has all the say in all the
matters. Since Macbeth fails to put his wife in her place, she becomes commanding and switches ranks
with Macbeth. This dominance on the part of Lady Macbeth would be seen as something unnatural and
evil since men were supposed to be the strong assertive ones. This disorder between gender roles ends in
the destruction of them both.
Lady Macbeth is shown as having masculine traits which have caused her femininity to recede, she
shames Macbeth and tells him, “I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck’d my nipple from
his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” She begins her
statement by painting a picture of a tender moment between a mother and her child and then brutally
juxtaposes it with a gruesome killing which shows her adoption of toxic masculine traits such as violence.
This contradicts her role as a woman as she goes against motherhood which would be seen as malevolent
as women’s purpose in Jacobean times was primarily to serve her husband and children. She shames
Macbeth for his lack of bravery by stating that she would do something completely immoral to show that
she honors her word. This shows that she would choose her duty over emotion which would contradict
femininity as women were seen to be emotional and illogical and would not be able to keep their word
because of their incompleteness. Her challenging Macbeth shows her supremacy over him again
misaligning their ranks as man and wife.
When Macbeth finally takes back control of his household, Lady Macbeth reverts to a female stereotype
of a frail weak woman, suggesting that once gender roles are in place women go back to their inherent
nature. She is tormented by her misdeeds and begins talking in her sleep, “The thane of fife, he had a
wife: where is she now? – What, will these hands ne’er be clean.” She begins confessing all her crimes
when she should be resting, shows the guilt that has caught up with her for being involved in mass
murder. Sleep was seen as a time when souls go to rest but her soul is unable to do so it must let go of its
load before it can rest. Lady Macbeth mentions her ‘hands’ which makes it a matter very personal to her,
suggesting she feels directly responsible because ‘never clean’ suggests she still sees the stain of blood on
her. This motif of there being blood on the Macbeths’ hands suggests delusion and immense guilt. She
also rhymes her statements ‘fife’ and ‘wife’. Rhyming can be seen as being from a children’s song or
witch’s spell. However, coming from a grown woman, it sounds like hysteria or ghost possession. Her use
of figurative language “ne’er will these hands be clean” shows that she feels that even though her hands
are physically clean they have been forever tainted metaphorically by her evil deed. She asks the
whereabouts of the Thane of Fife’s wife even though she knows where she is, shows her wish to not
associate with the murder by pretending to not know. She could also be wondering about her own
destination after she dies, which is then cemented to the audience as being eternal damnation since it is
implied that she commits suicide which was seen as a sin by the Jacobean people. Shakespeare hints that
women are incomplete emotionally because of her inability to control her emotions as would be expected
of people living at his time. The natural order that was held dear by the people of the 1600s had been
restored when Macbeth assumed his dominance and Lady Macbeth assumes her submissive role.
However, this happens too late and their tale ends tragically.
‘Macbeth’ ends in tragedy and turmoil which is insinuated to have happened because of the disorderly
relationship between a man and his wife. It shows the audience the need of superiority of men over
women otherwise the women will become corrupt and corrupt society around them. This play was a
product of its time because of the status of men and women in Jacobean era. However, the play does end
with Duncan’s son Malcolm assuming the throne giving hope that evil fails and good eventually wins.