Changing Gender Roles in William Shakespeares Macbeth Essay -- Macbet

Changing grammatical gender Roles in William Shakespeares Macbeth Much circumspection has been paid to the theme of earthliness as it appears throughout Macbeth. In his interpolation to Macbeth in The riverside Shakespeare, Frank Kermode contends that the play is about the eclipse of niceness and manhood, and the temporary triumph of demonic (1307). Stephen Greenblatt emphasizes the same idea in The Norton Shakespeare, crediting maam Macbeth for encouraging her husband through both sexual taunting and the life-threatening force of her determination (2557-58). Macbeth responds to his wife with a clear sense of the tight-laced boundaries of his identity as a male and as a tender-hearted being, telling her I dare do all that may become a man/Who dares do more is none (I.7.46-47) (2558). Both Kermodes and Greenblatts notions focus upon how Macbeths masculinity is recognized and defined -- by Macbeth himself as well as by the potentially authoritative people who surround him. The critics who introduce the play in these major anthologies embrace the same weakness in Macbeths character as the apparently evil forces who play upon it do Macbeths masculinity becomes the psychological vehicle through which he becomes incensed, inspired, and finally incited to action. If Macbeths manliness is to be questioned, it is not likely to occur in spite of appearance the male-dominated world of battlefields and military victories which Shakespeare introduces in Act I, Scene 2. In this passage, the exhaust Captain praises Macbeths heroism, contending . . . brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steelWhich smoked with bloody(a) execution,Like valours minionCarved out his passage till he go about the slave,Which ne... ... Universities Modern Language Association 70 (Nov. 1988) 366-85. Dolan, Frances. The Taming of the Shrew Texts and Contexts. Boston Bedford, 1996. Greenblatt, Stephen. entering to Macbeth. The Norton Shakespeare. New York Norton, 1997. 2555-63. Hawkins, Michael. History, politics, and Macbeth. Focus on Macbeth. Ed. John Russell Brown. London Routledge, 1982. 155-88. Kermode, Frank. Introduction to Macbeth. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston Houghton, 1974. 1307-11. Stallybrass, Peter. Macbeth and Witchcraft. Focus on Macbeth. Ed. John Russell Brown. London Routledge, 1982. 189-209. Williamson, Marily L. Violence and Gender Ideology. Shakespeare Left and Right. Ed. Ivo Kamps et al. New York Routledge, 1991. 157-66. Winstanley, Lilian. Macbeth, King Lear, and Contemporary History. Cambridge Cambridge UP, 1922.