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Masculinity in Macbeth
Literary devices in macbeths
Masculinity in Macbeth
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Women can be very commanding individuals. Women can manipulate men so much, that in the end they transform and turn into something they never considered they would become. In a culture that values male strength over other things, a women’s manipulative capabilities can be extremely beneficial. Women don’t nearly have as much strength in a society where men are valued respected more, therefore, women have to figure out other means to get control. Women may be keen to use their intellectual capabilities to help their power-hungry minds. Lady Macbeth was a woman who did not have any power, but she had a need for it. Therefore, she manipulated Macbeth into killing King Duncan. After that, everything just went downhill, and what they have done …show more content…
The demise of the events that happened was because of a power-hungry woman named Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth manipulation of Macbeth disoriented Macbeth. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, it states: “Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life / And live a coward. (I.vii.46-47). Her words have an effect on him for the worse. Macbeth had a clear mind before she started to play with his emotions. She calls him a coward because he cannot perform an act that men should be able to do. Of course Macbeth is a man, but back in those times, the ability to act like a man was very important too. The idea of being a man and to perform in such a way that a “typical” man does was what society expected of a man. Lady Macbeth used this expectation to confuse Macbeth and make him think that he was not acting as a “perfect” man should. This caused the first problem: the killing of kind Duncan. Masculinity was very important to all men at this time, and Lady Macbeth used this to her advantage to make Macbeth do what she wanted him to do. In addition, Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth only for her personal gain. In the play Macbeth by William
Lady Macbeth is an extremely ambitious woman and wants more than anything for her husband, Macbeth, to be the next King of Scotland. When King Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm, is to be the next King, Duncan’s murder is planned. Lady Macbeth’s crucial role in the play is to persuade Macbeth to carry out the murder of Duncan. In the beginning she is ambitious, controlling and strong. However as the plot concludes there is an extreme change in her character and personality which surprises the audience. Lady Macbeth’s guilt eventually becomes too much for her to handle which leads to her death.
When we first hear about Macbeth from the sergeant’s report, we are led to believe that he is very much a person who does only what he believes is right. Furthermore, when he first appears in the play, his fellow nobleman, Banquo, accompanies him. Given this, we would think that he does what is right, and makes all his own decisions. However this belief is proven wrong. Although Macbeth starts off as a loyal subject of Duncan, he is ambitious and this is a weakness, which allows him to be manipulated by a few factors in the play.
Lady Macbeth was a small but very important part of the play Macbeth. She is always on the side of Macbeth telling him what she thinks he should do. When Macbeth was off at war, and told lady Macbeth that the witches greeted him as Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland before he received those titles, she was probably scheming no how to fulfill those before he returned home. Once home, they had King Duncan stay at Dunsinane. Lady Macbeth then b-tches at her husband and ridicules his masculinity in order to make him commit murder (Friedlander). Macbeth reluctantly murders Duncan, even though he wanted to wait and have it all play out without killing anyone. When he went to the well to wash off his hands he speaks of his remorse, and lady Macbeth finds out that he did not implicate the guards, so she tells him to go do it. But he wont, so she insults him more, and goes to do it herself.
Macbeth, the main character in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth was not secure in his manhood. This insecurity led to the downfall of Macbeth because he felt the need to prove himself to Lady Macbeth. After he proved himself by killing Duncan, Macbeth became desensitized to killing.
Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime.
If we were to say Macbeth was a coward in today’s meaning of the word, which is an old one at that and use it in a Shakespearean play, which was written in 1606, we could be seriously misinterpreting the word. The word coward comes from the Latin derivation meaning simply “tail”, but we can also see this word as meaning not just “one without courage” (Chambers Dictionary) but also meaning one without pity, objectivity or compassion, which Macbeth shows very few signs of.
In the play ‘’Macbeth’’ by William Shakespeare Macbeth struggles with his conscience and the fear of eternal domination if he assassinates King Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s conflict arises when Macbeth’s courage begins to falter. Lady Macbeth is has a cruel, venomous, evil personality in which no man can escape from her wrath and raging power. Lady Macbeth is like a black widow who utilizes aggressive and ruthless tactics to persuade Macbeth to commit the assassination. This cruel minded woman utilizes the power of manipulation and reverse psychology to get what she desires.
The Author of Macbeth, William Shakespeare writer of 51 plays and Stories. Teacher of many he showed everyone in the Tragedy of Macbeth how manipulation takes place on an everyday basis. Manipulation took place in almost every scene in Act 1 and it took place, for example Act1 Scene 2, Lady Macbeth convinced Macbeth to kill King Duncan. During the theme of good versus evil, with all the trials and tribulations that came about such as the numerous encounters Macbeth ran into (Example) king Duncan’s son Malcolm goes into Battle with Macbeth to proclaim what was once his fathers . Good versus occurred several times with more than just Macbeth throughout the story.
Lady Macbeth and her husbands downward spiral towards dark destruction is one the most famous of all time. We watch with pleasure as their horrible actions lead to their ultimate destruction. Lady Macbeth makes the choice to, as one source put it, lose her womanly virtues and become what she thinks is a man. It is this choice that leads to her unknowingly helping the witches in their desire to destroy Macbeth and ultimately her as well. She changes from a woman sure of these decisions to woman riddled with fear, corrupted in all possible manner – mind body and soul. Her ambition and power lead to her destruction. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
People are manipulated constantly. Whether it is an advertisement that they see or the people they talk to everyday, they are being exploited. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the manipulating forces within relationships is a very prominent theme. Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth throughout the tragedy to get what she wants. Her development and interactions revealed this theme.
Throughout time there have been stories and myths about people losing their mind from power. They crave the power of being King, Queen, Prince or Princess but if someone manipulates them into doing horrific things to achieve such states, who is to blame? The person doing the manipulating, or the person being manipulated? Who really committed the crime? Macbeth is a man who has done some deeds in his life that are horrific, but if Lady Macbeth was the one who manipulated Macbeth into doing what she wishes, then that would make her the murderer, not him.
Macbeth’s downfall was partially caused by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth’s influences made Macbeth feel like less of a man. One part of the play shows Macbeth being denounced as by his wife as she essentially calls him a coward for not wanting to kill Duncan. She says, “Woulds’t thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, like the poor cat i’the adage.” (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 40-45) ...
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, manipulation and deception drive characters to go against moral beliefs to advance their aspirations of becoming their desired position of power. After Macbeth proves his strength in battle fighting for King Duncan, Duncan honors him with the title of Thane of Cawdor. Before Duncan’s honors reach Macbeth, Macbeth encounters three witches. Their prophecy for Macbeth is that he will become “Thane of Glamis”, “Thane of Cawdor” and then “King” (1.3. 52-56). Macbeth takes advantage of Duncan’s caring disposition towards him and Macbeth murders him under Lady Macbeth’s pressure.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, “Man is oftentimes weak-minded enough to be caught in the snare of greed and honeyed words.” Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth depicts this sentiment through the story of a transformation that leads a man to create cruelty and despair throughout his country. The shift that leads once noble war hero Macbeth to become relentlessly cruel and greedy is in many parts due to his susceptibility to the influence from others. His wife, Lady Macbeth, coerces him to perform objectionable actions and the witches use deceit to make him reckless and ignorant. Manipulation can transform individuals into completely different people.
The main theme of Macbeth-the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints-finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.