Masculinity In Macbeth

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The play ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’, written by William Shakespeare in 1606, explores many themes. Although it was written over 400 years ago, many of these ideas are still relevant to the world today. The majority of the themes in the play, like ambition, greed, and gender inequality are attributes relating to human nature. Human nature is still the same today as when the play was written, so Shakespeare’s plays have no use-by date. The most prominent theme in Macbeth is that of ambition and the consequences of over-ambition. In the play, Macbeth is driven by his ambition to become king, due to the prophecy of the witches. This ambition is strengthened by this supernatural event and also his wife, Lady Macbeth, and so love also have an effect…show more content…
Lady Macbeth challenged Macbeth’s masculinity to manipulate him into committing the murder of Duncan. This is shown in Act 1 Scene 7 lines 49-51, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more that what you were, you would be so much more the man.” Lady Macbeth says that committing the murder would make him more of a man, and is seen in today’s society through gender inequality. Today, women and men are definitely more equal than they have been, but there is still inequality, and we still consider certain activities ‘manly’. In Macbeth, the issue of sexism and masculinity can be further seen in Act 4 Scene 3. Malcolm informs Macduff that his family has been killed, and in line 226 Malcolm says to him, “Dispute it like a man," implying that to 'take it like a man' is to ignore his feelings. Macduff is grief-stricken by the news, but Malcolm says to ignore what he is feeling. In lines 220-221, Malcolm says, “make us med’cines of our great revenge, to cure this deadly grief”. This furthers the idea that men's feelings are not validated. 400 years have passed since the writing of this play, but it is still considered ‘unmanly’ for men to express their feelings. This shows how Macbeth is still relevant

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