Gender

• Shakespeare's intentions (Gender)

  Shakespeare masterfully dismantles the idea of rigid gender roles. Whilst portraying the expected battlefield heroism of Macbeth and Macduff, he simultaneously undermines these stereotypes. Lady Macbeth's ambitions and ruthlessness shatters the passive, subversive woman. Furthermore, the witches are non-binary altogether which ruins the established order. The juxtaposition of conformity and subversion implies to the reader the fragility of societal expectations.
• The conclusion (Gender)

  In Macbeth, Shakespeare disrupts gender norms through Lady Macbeth's tyrannical ambition. However, she sill dies as a feeble hysterical woman and Macbeth dies as a warrior king, though defying gender expectations, it confined them of their different stereotypes. Their fates expose them of the power of the 'Great Chain of Being' where they die not just physically, but also symbolically, where they are trapped within their gender expectations, prescribed by society.
• All hail the Thane of Cawdor ... coward

  1. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to illustrate Macbeth's initial flattery which curdles into a poisonous insult and this emasculates him. Lady Macbeth praises his worth as a soon-to-be-king and then reduces him to a mere coward.
• All Hail the Thane of Cawdor ... coward


  2. This word pierces Macbeth's core because he is a valiant soldier and a member of a battlefield. Not only does it emasculate him but it also shatters the very essence of his identity
• All Hail the Thane of Cawdor ... coward


  3. Within the rigid gender expectations of the Jacobean Era, Lady Macbeth identifies that Macbeth's ambition, his fatal flaw, is closely intertwined with his perceiving masculinity. Therefore, she uses his weakness against him to shatter the foundation of his self worth and this leads to him becoming more ambitious.
• make thick my blood, stop access and passage to remorse

  1. Imperative words: 'make thick my blood' suggest how she is commanding evil spirits to restrain her ability to feel emotions of remorse. This creates an image of a domineering force.
• Make thick my blood stop o access and passage to remorse 


  2. she doesn't associate feelings of remorse and guilt to masculinity, which could be the reason she is so keen to strip away her feminine traits. Furthermore, she does the same thing with Macbeth as he starts doubting his loyalty to the king and as a result Lady Macbeth had to emasculate him just like she did to herself.
• Make thick my blood, stop me from accessing remorse.


  3. She later on says how she would've 'dash'd the brains out' to emphasize her metamorphosis. The plosive lexis 'dash'd' mirrors her rejection of femininity and motherhood and it implies her brutality. The diction 'brains' is ironic as she says she would make her unborn baby's brain unstable. However, her brain is the locus to her downfall as she becomes hysterical.
• Banquo describes the witches with 'beards'.

  1. Masculinity is synonymous to power. Therefore, form the beginning of the play the witches are presented as beings who hold power as they have masculine features.
• Banquo describes the witches with 'beards'.

  2. They appear to be androgynous characters and the fact that they are going against the norms of a patriarchal society, creates a sense of ambiguity. This ambiguous nature crafts them to be powerful beings as they are physically and vocally vague, because they don't fit in the gender norms.
• Banquo describes the witches with 'beards'.

  3. Alternatively it poses them to be a threat because their chaotic nature unravels the disruption of social order.