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Macbeth Gender Roles Quotes

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Gender Roles in Macbeth Macbeth has proven to conform and challenge the gender norms of his time. He is seen as submissive in his marriage. He is seen as a strong, warrior. He is seen as an easily manipulated and convincible person.Throughout the play, and further research, he confirms all of these statements. Macbeth may be the man of the house, but he is not the dominant spouse. For example: Macbeth is told he will be a king, as a result Lady Macbeth is making a plan to kill Duncan. Macbeth, after talking with Duncan, decides he doesn’t want to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth hears this and replies with “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.49). Implying that he is weak and will never be a man unless he does this. Lady Macbeth to …show more content…
He does fill the gender role/norm in which the men are strong and fight. It has been stated and shown that Macbeth was a very good fighter. In simpler terms as stated from an article on www. enotes.com “ Macbeth is a brave and successful warrior as explained to Duncan by the Captain Act1, sc.2.” It is brought up again in Act 5 when he says”That was not born of woman? Such a one /Am I to fear, or none.” (5.7.3-4). Macbeth is also very manipulatable. As stated in paragraph two, it can be seen that it doesn’t take a lot to convince Macbeth to do something. It is also shown in Act 5. Macbeth says he doesn’t want to fight with Macduff. Macduff then says”Then yield thee, coward,/And live to be the show and gaze o’ the time:.. “ (5.8.28-29) After hearing that Macbeth decides to fight after all. It was considered unmanly to not be secure in your ideas or beliefs. By changing his mind and being easily manipulated it showed him as if he was weak. In conclusion, Macbeth challenged the gender roles by being easily manipulated. He also challenged them by not being the dominant spouse. He did fulfill the role of being a warrior. I believe that he was most known for not fitting into the “proper role”. He may have been known for these examples, but also the fact that he was very emotional. Macbeth is , in all, a great example of not being in the accepted gender

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