Lady Macduff's View Of Manliness In Macbeth

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From the start of the play the reader may find out that there are various viewpoints of the notion of manliness in this play. Lady Macbeth and her husband, Macbeth both have a perverted understanding about what it means to be a man, whereas Macduff, a nobleman of Scotland who remains loyal to his country, stands in contrast to their understanding. For example, in Act I Scene 5 Lady Macbeth calls upon evil spirits to help her be cruel and unsex her from her womanly kindness in order to carry out a criminal deed. From this moment, the reader may comprehend that according to Lady Macbeth’s perception, to be more of a man then one has to be more aggressive and violent. Consequently, this same attitude towards manliness …show more content…

In this scene Macbeth, like his wife, exhibits the same attitude towards the notion of manliness and uses the same way of manipulation as his wife previously used with him. For instance, when one of the murderers expresses his reluctance and vacillation in killing Banquo by saying “We are men, my liege" (91), implying that “they are as capable of moral indignation and of violent response to wrongs as the next man” (Ramsey, 2014, p. 291), King Macbeth seizes this opportunity to change their perspective towards manliness by replying to them as in the following: “Aye, in the catalogue ye go for men, as hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, shoughs, water rugs, and demiwolves are clept all by the name of dogs” (Shakespeare, Act III, Scene I, 92-95). Here Macbeth is being against their attitude – not to kill Banquo - and just “like his wife before him, undermines this position by declaring that this hardly qualifies them as men or even as humans, except in the merely zoological sense” (Ramsey, 2014, p. 291). Furthermore, Macbeth in this quotation is using an analogy to mock their ability of manliness expressing that just as there are various breeds of dogs there are also different categories of men – some are more daring and some are less. So Macbeth is encouraging them to be more brutal and fierce. He continues saying

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