The Thin Gender Line in Macbeth Essay -- Macbeth essays

The Thin Gender Line in Macbeth most people would do anything to get what they want. The characters of Macbeth are no exception. Shakespeare creates people who each strive for, or abuse authority. The hands and women in Macbeth have vary degrees of guilt, power, and integrity. In order to compare the genders in Macbeth, one must realize how women were treated in Shakespeares time. The great Queen Elizabeth I died three long time prior to the writing of Macbeth, and yet her reign made little divagation on the matter of womens rights. At the time of Queen Elizabeths death, almost everyone of twain sexes agreed that the female intelligence was less than that of the male (Fraser 4). Women were considered to be the weaker watercraft (Fraser 4). A woman was forced to marry a man of her fathers choosing and so was under the complete control of her husband (Fraser 5). When Macbeth was written, women were supposed to be virtuous, submissive, maternal, and nonviolent. However, me n also saw women as temptresses and felt that they were more susceptible to the devils tempt (Fraser 5). Most women of that time had little control over their protest lives. dame Macbeth is the antithesis of what a woman was supposed to be. She is ruthless, bloodthirsty, and non-maternal. She would have dashed the brains out of her own child to suit her am endorsementions (1.7.64). Lady Macbeth is not content with a bit part in the drama she wants center stage. She seems almost ashamed of her fragile sex. 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 (1.5.44-47). Lady Macbeth has much in common with the weird sisters. Th... ... their gender and those who are the total opposite. He proves that both sexes can be ruthless, and do anything to reach their objective. The line between genders is thin, and is crossed in Macbeth quite often. Works Cited Fraser, Antonia. The Weaker Vessel. bracing York Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1984. Mahood, M.M. Shakespeares Wordplay. Shakespeare Macbeth. Ed. John Wain. Nashville Aurora Publishers Inc. 1970. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Folger Library General Readers Shakespeare. saucily York Washington Sq. Press. 1959. Waith, Eugene. Manhood and Valor in Macbeth. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Macbeth. Ed. Terence Hawkes. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall Inc. 1977. Wills, Garry. Witches and Jesuits Shakespeares Macbeth. New York Oxford University Press, 1995.