How Differing Representations of Masculinity in Macbeth Shape Action and Theme - Essay Example

?How differing representations of masculinity in 'Macbeth' shape action and theme. This paper seeks to explore how Macbeth`s theme are shaped by differing presentation of masculinity. Masculinity refers to male gender and it associated them with certain qualities that are expected for one to qualify being a man. Macbeth is a play about a man who allows his irresponsible ambition and questioning of his own manhood to through him into committing senseless and brutal acts of violence. The characters of Macbeth are associated with masculinity in terms of aggression, vengeance and bravery. One of the major theme in Macbeth is often “foul is fair and fair is foul." This theme is manifested in all types of scenes in the entire story (Howell, 2008, p. 10). It mainly revolves around Macbeth, the main character and the events in the play. 'Fair is Foul' implies the contrast of evil and good in the play. Macbeth commits several evil murders for the sake of his ambitions which seem as good reasons. Macbeth is a brave soldier and a man. He posses the characteristics of a typical man and because of this he managed to commit evil murders. Due to this theme several chaoses, secrets, lies and total disorder occurs. This theme is introduced by three Witches introduce and they are the first characters presented in the play. By presenting the witches in the first scene, it`s a confirmation that they are indeed the main devices of evil and important characters in the play. At the start of the play Macbeth is portrayed to be a "good being". He was fighting for his king and his country. Shakespeare, in the play, describes Macbeth as "for brave Macbeth” and he justifies his quote that Macbeth deserves that name by saying that what he, Shakespeare, hath lost, the noble Macbeth in deed hath won (Howell, 2008, p. 38, line 16). These sorts of quotes in Macbeth play seem to associate with a brave man of heroic accomplishment. Again we see how masculinity shape the development of the theme fair is foul and foul is fair since this heroic act and bravery can only be associated to a man, Macbeth and not any other character in the play. This paints Macbeth as a good man and it`s worth noting that the thoughts to kill the king just started after the three predictions by the three witches. When Lady Macbeth, Macbeth`s wife, had read the letter of her husband concerning what the witches did promised, she waited until her husband arrived home and started pushing him to make predictions a reality. Despite Macbeth knowing that the murder of King Duncan is a wrong idea, Lady Macbeth still pushes him to do the act by question his manhood (Howell, 2008, p. 23, line 31). Macbeth is seen as a character with certain powerful contradictions. He is a man and a soldier who, in order not to compromise his manhood, was willing to murder the king as well as his best friend. However, he has conscience which is very strong and it torments him when he thinks of his planned crime. In fact we see that even prior to committing his crimes; he is made miserable by the thought of them. This can only leave us asking ourselves if Macbeth is a sensitive man or a horrible monster - a victim of his own ambitions or victim of witches. When we scrutinize what Macbeth does and then look at his own feelings about what he did, we definitely find his actions to be monstrous but his feeling to be that of remorseful and sensitive man. One wouldn`t be wrong to say that Shakespeare purposely choose his main character Macbeth to be a brave man simply because of the theme he intended to pass across and Macbeth successfully explore the idea of masculinity to build the theme of foul is fair. As Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth plot their planned crime, Macbeth reveals to his wife his hesitance to killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth quickly responds to her husband’s fickle mind by referring to him as a coward in the event he fails to perform their treasonous planned act against Duncan. As Macbeth’s manhood is put to the test, he soon falters and gives in by saying he dare do all which may become of a man. Eventually her attempt to question Macbeth`s manhood succeeds. Macbeth fears they will be caught and so he questions their success in the plan. However, he decides to be part of Lady Macbeth`s will simply because a woman just questioned his manhood and he will be branded a coward if he gets less courageous. A man in Macbeth`s shoes has to uphold a dominant role. If he had failed to do the will of Lady Macbeth, he would be considered to be submissive-an act left for women in the play. Macbeth finally decides to kill king Duncan and he become the king with sleepless night. This urge to murder Duncan by Macbeth presents a platform for another main theme in Macbeth that is shaped by masculinity-the wrought of destruction when ambition are not guided by moral constraints. This theme is powerfully expressed in two main characters in the play: Macbeth is a brave and courageous Scottish general. He is not inclined towards committing evil deeds but he however, deeply desires advancement and power. Lady Macbeth on the other hand defines her own idea pertaining to how a woman need to behave, that is far away from how a typically woman need to act. Women were considered submissive and less authoritative in the early stages of Macbeth`s social, political and cultural setting, which is not Lady Macbeth`s definition of a woman. She gets a letter from Macbeth which states his promotion to thane of Cawdor and she tells Macbeth of her confrontation with witches and how they have prophesized he was to be the future Scotland king. She immediately plans for the murder of King Duncan. She tells Macbeth to leave everything else for her but he kills Duncan. She directly attacks Macbeth`s masculinity by telling him that when he durst precede and do it, then he is a man (Howell, 2008, p. 41, line. 56). Lady Macbeth seems be more emotional ready to commit evil but she lacked the masculinity required to do it and that why she manipulates Macbeth to do it. Due to her emotional preparedness, she is the person who returns the bloody daggers to the chamber of King Duncan when Macbeth was overwhelmed with guilt. It was clear that Macbeth was disturbed by the need to become the most dominant of the two is revealed when he formulates the plan to murder Banquo by himself and he does not involve his wife in it. In fact, he stops to share with his wife his plans altogether. After she reads her husband`s letter she doesn’t hesitate to question the ability of Macbeth to occupy the position as king. She insinuates Macbeth lacks the needed “wickedness” for the role. She put the spotlight on political weakness of Macbeth that foreshadows his downfall. By doing this, she goes against women`s social standards. Most women dare not to question the authority of their husbands but Lady Macbeth did exactly that without hesitating to question Macbeths. Her attitude in the play scene sparks her gender role in the entire play that is domineering. She uses her gender whenever she seeks her ambitions. We continuously see her questioning the manhood of Macbeth to get all that she wants. In Scene 5 we see her asking to be “unsexed,” She says “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty….” This suggests her desire and ambitions to climb up the social ladder as she wants to shed herself of femaleness. She further emphasized her desire to be a man when she said “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall…” She was responding to her husband`s unwillingness to commit evil yet he had all it takes kill King Duncan-being a man. (Howell, 2008, p. 32, line. 21). In the play we see a reversal of roles between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. At the beginning of the play both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth desire power. Lady Macbeths, without hesitation, starts to pump evil thoughts into her husband’s mind. At this point Lady Macbeth plays an evil role and guiltless character while Macbeth plays the “good man” role and he wants to hear none of his wife`s thoughts because of his guilt. He is reluctant to play alongside his wife`s evil character. However, as the play progresses, we finally see Macbeth turning into the guiltless monster, who ironically causes the downfall of his wife, Lady Macbeth. The roles clearly seem to have been reversed between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. One can argue that Macbeth now played a more evil role than Lady Macbeth as he even formulates the plan to murder Banquo by himself and he does not involve his wife in it. He had stopped to share with his wife his plans altogether. This reversal of roles clearly shape and support the theme of wrought of destruction when ambition is not guided by moral constraints. Despite not being explicitly presented in the play, Macbeth also has a desire inside him to be highly powerful and therefore more masculine than the witches. This is evidenced by how Macbeth emulates the witches. However, he finally was able to “conjure” these three witches by all that they professed. He begun to demand and receive explanations and answers from the witches even if they tell him to seek no more satisfaction of his suspense. As a result of this desire, Macbeth is compelled to commit the acts which are unnatural in order for him to become better than and superior to the witches. At the end of this play, he did achieve this goal both in his senseless evil acts and in his own manner of speech. The prophecy which Macbeth chants repeatedly just prior to his final battle he reiterated how he will not be coward by death and bane until Birnam Forest turns to Dunsinane just rhymes like the witches` opening lines. The prophecies of the witches reflects Lady Macbeth`s ambitions, but in contrast, their prophecies commands greater value than the ambitions of Lady Macbeth since they are concrete and cannot be changed. This proved to be detrimental at the end of plays as Banquo, who didn`t make any effort to alter his own fate, acquired the benefits of prophecies by witches. The witches were presented with a more masculine function than Macbeth as they had power to predict the future and tell the course of someone’s life, a role associated to men of ancient time. They possess the power of making nothing to seem normal. they control Macbeth`s fate via their prophecies. Macbeth certainly posses no power of the sort. Furthermore, he narrowly passes masculinity test administered by his wife. Lady Macbeth has several needs which virtually nobody can provide her except her husband. Instead, the witches propel her ambition. She ironically turns it around on Macbeth. If the witches did not revealed the content of their prophecy then there wouldn`t be reason for any of the Macbeths to plot against Duncan. The audience of the play cannot notice that even women are also perpetrators of evil and violence. The prophecies of the witches spark the ambitions of Macbeth and then enhance his violent behavior. Lady Macbeth offers the brains as well as the will behind plotting of her husband. One can say that Macbeth traces root of his evil and chaos to women. This has led few critics to argue this is the most misogynistic play of Shakespeare. The male characters in the play are as prone to evil and violent as the women. However, the female character`s aggression is more striking since it goes against the prevailing expectations concerning how women are suppose to behave. The behavior of Lady Macbeth definitely shows that women are as cruel and ambitious as men. Whether because she fear not to kill or she is constrained by her society, Lady Macbeth relies upon manipulation and deception rather than violence in order to achieve her ends. Finally, the Macbeth does put forth less destructive and revised definition of manhood. At the scene where Macduff happens to learns of his child and wife`s murders, Malcolm consoles Macduff by trying to encourage him to accept the news of the murder in a “manly” fashion and seek revenge on Macbeth. Macduff reveals that he indeed mistakes the understanding of masculinity. Malcolm suggests to Macduff to dispute it in a man`s way and he agrees to do so but commit to also feel it like a man. In the end, Siward is informed with the news of death of his son rather complacently. Malcolm reminds him how he is worth much sorrow than he have expressed. The comment of Malcolm shows how he mastered the lesson Macduff had given him on sentient nature of genuine masculinity. Clearly, Macbeth does not actually fit definition of a classical tragedy by Aristotle. The protagonist needs to be generally a good person with one tragic flaw which causes them to fall into misery from happiness while often meeting their deaths in this process. We see Macbeth starts as the war hero who bravely led Scots to conquer the rebels. However, as the play progress, Macbeth turns a villain who is responsible for several deaths. Therefore while Macbeth qualify to be called a tragedy, it`s a different sort of tragedy. Going by the definition of Aristotle as a foundation, we can perhaps say the following to suit the definition for tragedy in Macbeth: a sort of literary work where by the initially good protagonist gives in to emotional or moral ruin and succumb to them due to gullibility, misinterpretation and overconfidence geared towards the prophecy or an omen he receives. The evidence for this definition is seen throughout the play. At first, Macbeth is a good person. He is described as “valor’s minion,” as well as “noble Macbeth,” Macbeth is even so trusted by his King that the king even appoints him Thane of Cawdor. Thereafter, Macbeth hears a message from three Weird Sisters that he was to become the king hereafter (Howell, 2008, p. 41, line.17). No sooner did Macbeth hear from the messenger that indeed he has been appointed by King Duncan to the position of Thane of Cawdor, as was also predicted in the three witches` prophecy, than he began to believe their prophecies as well as allows a combination of weird advice from Lady Macbeth. Besides, he allowed his own ambition to lure him into kill King Duncan in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Macbeth is truly guilty for killing his king but Macbeth`s own vaulting Ambition superseded all else. He has already taken the path to moral and emotional ruin. As the play proceeds, Macbeth continues with his descent into moral ruin and evil. He orders the murders of Macduff`s family as well as Banquo. He also receives a number of prophecies from the three witches, saying he should be aware that none not of woman born shall never cut short his kingship. Macbeth buys this prophecy while assuming there is none not of woman born and waltzes carelessly into battlefield where he get killed by Macduff-born through some kind of crude C-section. Before his death, Macbeth had already come to emotional and moral ruin while concluding that indeed life was a mere tale narrated by an idiot who is full of fury and sound that signifies nothing. Macbeth is actually a renaissance tragedy re-working of a linear and crude medieval story. Macbeth, the main character, is both “fair” and “foul”; he is overwhelmed with a secret ambition to conquer the Scotland throne while at the same time an imaginative conscience he posses deter him from pursuing the short cut to fulfill his ambition. Renaissance welcomed in a more complex and modern tragic view that Shakespeare was in fact, the greatest exponent. A man standing at the epic centre of universe who is no longer the poor creature with inscrutable destiny, a robustly competent and more admired soldier, Macbeth indeed is a man of great character. He experiences the tragic destiny hailing from issues of the depth of his own character: the ambition he has which is the 'foul' inside him ironically overwhelm his conscience which is the 'fair' inside him. Lady Macbeth, his wife, catalyses his self-tortuous process. In the end he falls a victim to Lady Macbeth`s sense of guilt. Bibliography HOWELL, M. L. (2008). Manhood and masculine identity in William Shakespeare's The tragedy of Macbeth. Lanham, Md, University Press of America. Read More