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Masculinity in Macbeth Shakespeare

 

             The great masterpiece Macbeth, which is written by William Shakespeare, deals with many different hidden themes. One of the best-hidden themes in Macbeth is manhood. Shakespeare's descriptions of his characters give real descripitions of living beings, not actors upon a stage. His manuscript is able to show the masculinity of men as well of women.  Masculinity is not just for men; some women are just like men in their quest for ambition.

            In the play Macbeth, it seems that Lady Macbeth is a man trapped in a woman's body. She is filled with greed, envy, and hate, and she will use any person or any thing until she gets what she wants or accomplishes her evil goals. In the play she hides her true feelings and pretends to be a normal lady. However, her evil nature shines through her false face. This just proves that Lady Macbeth is like a rose. A rose is pretty and smells great but if one is not careful the thorns will prick the fingers.  Lady Macbeth appears to lose her sanity the night of Duncun's murder and cannot relate to her feelings or guilty conscience. She admits that "she could kill her only child just as easy (I vii 72-74)". This really means that Lady Macbeth is colder than ice and seems that she lost all preception of right and wrong.  Then she tell her husband " a little water clears of the deed" (II ii 66)". Lady Macbeth thought the killing would, be easy to accomplish, but in fact it was not as easy as she said or thought.

              In the play, to die without any fear seems to be the highest accomplishment of one's life. It seems that not fearing death is more important than inventing a great invention that could change the world. When young Siward dies, his father is more worried about how he was killed. Siward wants to know where the wounds on his son were. When Ross tells Siward that his son had marks on the front of his body, his father is proud and brags about his death, "Why then, God's solider be he ( V viii l 46)". Siward father seems to have no grief over his son's death by what he was saying.  

            Ambition seems to be in all men, and all men strive to fill their need for it. The only difference is that some men will go father than others. Some men will do anything to accomplish their dreams no matter what they have to sacrifice.   Macbeth's problem was that power was addictive to him. Once he became Thane of Glamis he was hooked and Macbeth had to feed his desire. When Macbeth started his reign he killed anyone he deemed a threat. He even killed his best friend and his son because he wanted to remain a king forever. This is when Macbeth became a monster, when he started to kill innocent people. Power is what led up to his destruction and ultimately led to his death.   

            Shakespeare is successful in showing many different themes. One of the main themes in Macbeth is manhood. Shakespeare then breaks up the main themes into smaller themes.  Shakespeare uses small themes like ambition, and conquering the fear of death to help build upon the importance of the main theme.  Some of the other literary devices also show what led up to the destruction of Macbeth.