Masculinity - Macbeth

A detailed Summary of Masculinity - Macbeth


"The man, most man, works best for men: and, if most man indeed, he gets his manhood plainest from his soul." ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the dramatic tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare, masculinity becomes a trait that is manipulated by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth manipulates this trait in Macbeth by questioning his manhood and convincing him to murder Duncan, King of Scotland. The same way Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband, Macbeth provokes the murderers he hires to kill Banquo and Fleance by questioning their manhood as well. When the hallucination of Banquo's ghost plagues Macbeth, both Lady Macbeth and himself bring up the masculinity of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth questioning it, and Macbeth reinstating it.

In the start of the novel, Lady Macbeth first appears to the reader as a selfish woman who is concerned solely with her own well being. She plays with others' emotions to ge


Lady Macbeth brings up the question of masculinity with some aggravation. Again she covers for her husband and pretends that he is ill. He does this while she angrily questions if '[He] [is] a man [.]" (III.iv. 59) to which Macbeth tries to make excuses to by making him seem like "a bold one that dares to look on that - which might appal the devil" (III.iv. 60-61). She attacks her husband demanding if "quite unmannered in folly" (III.iv. 75) to which her husband defends himself. Macbeth tries to convince the ghost that "whatever man dares, [he] dares" (III.iv. 101)! He raises his ego and then states that "being gone, - [he][is] a man again" (III.iv. 110).

Manipulation plays a large role in this Shakespearean tragedy. A person's masculinity comes from within. Macbeth's masculinity was played with and manipulated. Unfortunately, he never learned that "he gets his manhood plainest from his soul."

In the same ve

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Approximate Word count = 626
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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