Manhood

• Macbeth as a strong brave warrior. Nothing can scare him
• Respected as a nobleman, brave, masculine warrior → kills in service of the King

• Macbeth is married to war, very brave and committed
• Bellona was the ancient Roman goddess of war

• Macbeth’s manly superior tone makes the audience think that he can charge the inferior Witches with his imperatives
• Dictatorial order – as if he owns the Witches, and can force them to do anything he wishes

• Macbeth is supremely heroic, just as a man would want to be seen as
• At the start, Macbeth is the archetypal warrior

• Remove Lady Macbeth’s femininity, so that she can become manly → evil
• Women cannot do evil acts, they are meant to be gentle and kind
• Men are emotionless warriors who have no compassion or guilt according to Lady Macbeth → so natural feelings of guilt/doubt CANNOT sway her dark desires

• Milk – gentle innocence taken away for “gall” – bitter poison
• Takes away her conscience

• Attacks Macbeth’s masculinity – hits him where it hurts, as a warrior – this is the most important quality to Macbeth. This cunning behaviour insults all that Macbeth has
• Men are not cowards; they are meant to be brave
• Lady Macbeth humiliates & mocks Macbeth here by questioning his manhood
• “Will you always live a coward in your mind”, saying “I cannot” after he says “I want to”?”
• Like a poor cat who wanted to fish but was afraid of the water

• Macbeth suggests that he is being manly by NOT doing the murder – anyone who does it is not worth the respect
• Macbeth is loyal to Duncan – as cousin and host
• A true man is loyal to his King, and his country – Macbeth loses this at the end of the play

• The “beast” that dared killing Duncan was a man

• Fix your courage firmly in place, so it cannot move
• Be a man; courage is important to be a man

• May Lady Macbeth only give birth to boys because the fearless spirit could only create males

• She is scared to kill Duncan due to a father-like figure
• Ironic because Lady Macbeth would have mocked Macbeth for this, which shows that she is not the omnipotent figure she wishes to make herself seem like

• Macbeth makes himself weak and unable to act when he obsessively thinks about his actions
• Lady Macbeth praises him with flattering language “noble”, “worthy”

“The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures. ‘Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil”

2.2 Lady Macbeth

• “You weakling!” – Macbeth is shaken by the murder, and Lady Macbeth acts as a cruel leader, mocking Macbeth by calling him a scared child, not as brave a man warrior
  • Lady Macbeth is insensitive – another one of her insults to get Macbeth to do what she says
• Sleeping people are harmless as pictures; childish to fear a “devil” in a painting, static image that looks horrible but cannot harm you
• Lady Macbeth is stinging rebuke (disapproval) to Macbeth, who is afraid to even think about what he has just done → she is increasingly frustrated with her cowardly husband
• Out of loyalty, Lady Macbeth places the daggers back onto servants

• Gender stereotypes (dear, gentle lady)
• Telling murder to a woman would kill them instantly – TOO weak, gentle, supple to deal with something so horrific
• Dramatic irony – Lady Macbeth is NOT gentle lady and in fact, she can deal with horror → planned the entire murder herself and orders a Thane herself

• Plays the part of gentle woman – gender stereotypes – no one would suspect her
• Deflect attention from herself, using femininity as a tool for manipulation
• OR she faints out of shock due to Macbeth’s violence
• Men would not cry or shy away from murder, they would regain “manly readiness” and fight the treasonous plot behind the murder

“Ay, in the catalogue ye go for me, As hounds, and greyhounds… are clept All by the name of dogs”

“Now, if you have a station in the file Not I’th’worst rank of manhood, say’t” 3.1 Macbeth

• Masculinity – servants promise to revenge on Banquo because they are men. Macbeth convinces them that Banquo is the reason they are poor in money & status
• Macbeth mocks murderers by saying they are part of the species called men – but at the bottom rank in all qualities.
• IF they are real men, they would murder Banquo – same tactic used by Lady Macbeth, to mock Macbeth

• Lady taking command of ALL nobility of Scotland
• Men do not have emotions like this – she uses masculinity as a weapon against him

“I am a man again.”

• He dares as much as a man – not fearful of anything BUT Banquo’s ghost
• If he trembles at anything else, call me the doll or puppet of a girl (strong, manly warrior)
• Once he recovers, says he is a “man” – so women cry at sights, are emotional

• Like honourable men, we should defend our fallen country

• Encourages Macduff to NOT hide his grief → put sorrow into words.
• A grief that hides in silence will whisper in your heart and break it

Dispute it like a man… Let grief convert to anger…This tune goes manly”

4.3 Malcolm

• Make medicine out of revenge to ease the dreadful grief → don’t be a ‘woman’ and cry.
• A man is supposed to deal with grief by getting angry and taking revenge, NOT by being upset
• Violence should be man’s first resort (like Lady Macbeth)
• Sadness and feelings are a weakness → women show signs of crying

• Men must also remember things that are precious to them – man can also feel and have emotions
• Macduff lets himself feel the ‘unmanly’ emotion of grief

• Wants to be respected. Last bit of honour as ‘brave Macbeth’
• Royal ‘I’ (or ‘we’) – speak about everyone in country
• Reminder of fearless warrior from 1.2

• Will not give up, be an animal stared at like in a zoo
• He refuses to back down, even though he knows he is damned and doomed – return of brave warrior in 1.2 → he is in his own element when fighting man on man → not using Witches or other murderers to do something for him
• He will fight till the end, audience feel some pity for him, but feel relief when he finally dies in the end

• Father sees son’s death as an honour that he died protecting Scotland – shows desperation to overthrow Macbeth – his son died bravely
• Being a man means more than being violent and aggressive – must also grieve loss and feel emotion (Malcolm tries this after learning from Macduff at the end of the play)