Manly Manipulation: The Liability of Masculinity in Macbeth Josie Reynolds College

While history has us assume that the idea of masculinity is equated with strength, Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Macbeth epitomizes the play’s understanding of masculinity in relation to power. When Lady Macbeth commands the spirits, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty,” she asserts that the male gender is necessary to be able to exercise extreme violence, which, in the case of her and Macbeth’s plot to kill Duncan, is vital to being successful (1.5.47-50). In some ways, Lady Macbeth’s assertion of masculinity being equated to unrestrained cruelty complicates the traditional notion of masculine traits equaling strength and power. While Lady Macbeth asserts to men that these so-called masculine traits are necessary to her accomplishment of her plan, she uses her specific concept of masculinity as cruelty to urge male characters to act in ways that are in accordance with her murderous plan for power. In that regard, an understanding of Macbeth through the lens of its emphasis on masculinity diverges from the common idea in older literature that manliness is next to godliness. While the central characters may speak about masculinity as though it is the epitome of power and...