Gender Roles in Macbeth Essay -- GCSE Coursework Macbeth Essays

Gender Roles in Macbeth Although written long ago, Shakespeares The Tragedy of Macbeth unsounded has themes relevant for contemporary society. Murderous ambition, political intrigue, crafty social alliances, the rotting of marriage these could be headlines from any daily news program. It comes as no surprise, then, that we also find a significant number of moments in the revivify where gender seems to be an issue. More specifically, we might say that Shakespeares dramatic investigation into proper uses of power consists, in part, of a rigorous critique of the disparities betwixt the respective roles assigned to men and women. Shakespeare seems in particular interested in the incorrupt and ethical implications of such discrepancies. In the interest of space and time, I testament focus here on only a few apprise moments from act one. However, I encourage you to note the further development of these points as the drama unfolds in subsequent depictions. In the very first scene of Macbeth we learn what Duncan and his people value in masculine identity. When the sergeant lurch in to report what he has seen of Macbeth in battle, we are given an cooking stove of a thane who is steeped in gore For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),Disdaining Fortune, with his brandishd steel,Which smokd with bloody execution, same(p) Valours minion carvd out his passage,Till he facd the slaveWhich neer shook hands, nor offer farewell to him,Till he unseamd him from the nave to thchops,And fixd his head upon our battlements. (1.2.16-23) The kings response to this account is especially telling O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman (1.2.16-24) demonstrates as more than appreciation for the manner in which Macbeth overcame h... ...41). By plays end, we are confronted with her madness, the result of an torture tension between her identity as a woman and the require to accommodate a misconceived and fatally monstrous masculinity. Although I do not intend here to resolv e the question of gender in Macbeth (actually, I hope to provoke further thoughts on interpretation), I do call to note that Shakespeare has forcefully bound the cultural problem of violence to the proclamation and validation of the roles a community assigns by sex. Read the play regard a performance consider the moral and ethical implications bound up in the plot of a would-be king who sheds true human beings even as he fulfills the masculine ideal. Works CitedShakespeare, William. Macbeth. Literature An ingress to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York Longman, 1999.