Macbeth Gender Roles Essay

Words: 1797
Pages: 8

Gender roles also play a significant role in the play. In order to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth questions his manhood and this is one of the factors that eventually pushes Macbeth over the edge. Macbeth also mentions how it would be terrible for his wife to have any daughters because her fiery spirit is too masculine. The idea that only men could be ambitious and powerful is an idea that was common during this time in Elizabethan England.
There is also the question about what is truly “real” in the physical world. The bloody dagger Macbeth sees outside of Duncan’s room is a hallucination in the eyes of Lady Macbeth, but to Macbeth it is very real and tangible. While no one else can see Banquo’s death at the dinner table,
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This statement describes how doing the “right” thing may involve foul actions, and foul actions may be seen as fair in certain instances. As the witches themselves are bound to an entirely different set of rules than Macbeth and other characters, their sense of morality is not the same as the others. They believe that immoral actions can be necessary in certain instances. They manipulate Macbeth’s weak sense of morals and their words eventually push him to murder Duncan to ascend to the throne. However in the witches’ moral code, even though the throne of Scotland is a “fair reward”, Macbeth committed a necessary, yet foul, action to obtain it. They care little of the laws and customs their actions would break, and set the tone for a play in which the characters often break the laws too. It is interesting to note that even though at the end of the play, Macduff kills Macbeth, he too is committing regicide, but his actions are seemingly justified because Macbeth is a tyrant. In a sense, his foul action is made fair because of his intentions. The witches’ opening statement is a maxim that is the central idea of the entire play and manifests itself in the actions of every character as the play