Gender Stereotypes In Macbeth

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Throughout the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses gender roles and prejudices to help define who Macbeth and especially Lady Macbeth truly are, as well as what they may accomplish. Lady Macbeth struggles with her identity and realizes what she may want for herself is not necessarily what society expects of her. Whether it is expressing her true emotions and wishes, her struggle to gain power, or her disdain towards her husband, Lady Macbeth continuously struggles with the unresolved problem of finding her true self as well as combating the stereotypes put on women.
When Lady Macbeth states, “Come you spirits” the inquiry of who these spirits are, whether they exist and what relationship they have to Lady Macbeth all come into question. With these words, Lady Macbeth may be referring to someone or some spirit she has encountered before. But it is never known that she has encountered spirits before which brings up the question of what type of spirit is she referring to? Could Lady Macbeth be referring to the same three witches that Macbeth gains his …show more content…

When you durst do it, then you were a man. (22)
This sentence contradicts Lady Macbeth’s statement only a few pages earlier when she states her disapproval of gender stereotypes and how she wishes she was forced to not be herself based off of her gender; yet in this sentence, she is questioning Macbeth’s manhood. A possible reasoning for this may have been Lady Macbeth simply being so angry at Macbeth at the time of the quote that she had forgotten her previous statement earlier. Alternatively, this may have been Shakespeare’s way of showing Lady Macbeth’s animosity towards that of stereotypes among women. Therefore it seems that although Lady Macbeth shows anger towards those stereotypes put onto women based of their gender, she strongly feels that males must follow their stereotypes or otherwise they will not be fulfilling their duty of being a

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