Questioning Definitions of Masculinity and Femininity in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

‘The repetition in a woman’s ear would murder as it fell’

 Macbeth is one of my favourite plays by William Shakespeare. One of the things I noticed upon first tackling this play was the presence of issues surrounding gender and sex; what expectations characters had in this regard and also how they met those expectations. Of all the characters in the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth provide the greatest opportunities for analysis through this lens, although the other characters also have roles and characteristics which either strengthen or draw attention to the gender ambiguity of the Macbeths, or make comment themselves on the nature of gender. The following passage, which comes from the Duncan’s Corpse by Susan Zimmerman, an essay found in A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, helps greatly to illustrate this point:

‘If signification is structured by means of concepts that safely situate phenomena in categories – male/ female, sacramental/ diabolic, familiar/ alien – then Macbeth is about the tenuousness of these distinctions and the psychic and social horror that ensues when they collapse.’

The emasculation of Macbeth, due in part to his own failings and also a result, to some extent, of Lady Macbeth’s treatment of him is an important element of this theme. Masculinity in Macbeth is closely entwined with violence and ambition. Lady Macbeth accuses her husband of being, “too full o’th’ milk of human kindness” – in other words, that he is too woman-like to kill Duncan. Macbeth argues against the murder, not because it is fundamentally wrong, but instead because things are going well for him, as when he says, “We will proceed no further in this business;/ he [Duncan] hath honoured me of late and I have bought/ golden opinions from all sorts of people…”. Macbeth’s inflated sense of ambition could be said to stem from a sense of inadequacy, considering the level of success he already enjoys. He is not ‘his own man’, instead he is weak, selfish, easily manipulated and quick to fixate. Macbeth is easily manipulated by his wife; she preys upon his sense of masculinity, something which is made even more painful by her own lack of traditional femininity. Even when Macbeth is finally able to commit the act of murder, he finds himself breaking down and being unable to complete the cover-up. It falls, then to his wife to protect the couple from suspicion, meaning that again Macbeth has failed to assert himself in a ‘gender-appropriate’ way. Even the first notion of becoming king is planted in Macbeth’s mind by females, although the witches, too, have traditionally masculine appearances which confuse him, evident when she says, “You should be women/ and yet your beards forbid me to interpret/ that you are so.” The role of women in the play is perhaps even more fascinating.

Lady Macbeth is a woman of extreme character and force. Possessed by ambition, she controls, bullies and manipulates her husband, only at the end of the play discovering that even she is human and unable to escape human guilt. In fact, she actually displays a shocking degree of flippancy following the murder, believing that, “A little water clears us of this deed”. When the curtain of guilt finally falls across Lady Macbeth, it manifests itself in a form of madness, which is only evident through sleepwalking and constant hand washing, as though she is unable to properly feel and acknowledge what she has does while conscious. Not only does Lady Macbeth lack the traditional feminine ways but she also rebels against them. Rejecting her femininity, she says, “Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;/ stop up the access and passage to remorse,/ that no compunctious visitings of nature/ shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between/ the effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,/ and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,/ wherever in your sightless substances/ you wait on nature’s mischief!” This passage is very fascinating; not least because of the assertion that Lady Macbeth makes that violence is incompatible with femininity. She calls upon the ‘spirits’ to ‘unsex’ her – to remove her female characteristics and replace them with cruelty. She asks that her breasts’ milk be replaced with gall, or poison, and that she no longer experiences the ‘visitings of nature’ (menstruation). This idea that it is impossible to be both cruel and female is interesting, especially when examined alongside the character of Macbeth. It is unbelievably ironic, considering the role played by Lady Macbeth in the murder of Duncan, that when the crime is discovered MacDuff is reluctant to speak of it in front of Lady Macbeth, stating that, “the repetition in a woman’s ear/ would murder as it fell”. This again comes back to the traditional idea that a woman is submissive, fragile and must be protected from the cruelty and evil of men. None of this is true of Lady Macbeth.

 I personally felt a degree of sympathy with Lady Macbeth. It is true, of course, that she is cold and perhaps even slightly psychopathic. She tells Macbeth that if he has committed to the murder of Duncan then he must carry it out and that she has”…given suck and know/ how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me -/ I would, while it was smiling in my face,/ have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums/ and dash’d the brains out had I so sworn as you/ have done to this”. How horrific! To say that she has herself experienced motherhood and loved her child, she would still easily murder it is shocking and I believe that our culture would view it as the worst possible crime. Lady Macbeth is far from good, and she is certainly not someone with whom it is easily possible to sympathise. However, it is important to note that in the context of the era a woman was profoundly trapped in a patriarchal society, which allowed them no life or ambition of their own. That Lady Macbeth must be so cold and lacking in humanity in order to achieve her own agenda is sad but perhaps understandable.

The contrast between the characters of Macbeth and MacDuff is very interesting. MacDuff, upon discovering the murder of his family, is told my Malcolm that he must he manly and not dwell upon it. To this he replies, “I shall do so,/ but I must also feel it as a man”. Thus, to experience emotion is to be embody the true meaning of masculinity. I believe that it is this that we must take from the play, as ultimately Macbeth is defeated and MacDuff prevails. Macbeth’s weakness and ability to be manipulated by women is juxtaposed with MacDuff’s triumph, bravery, goodness and power to feel.

 I found this to be the most difficult post to write so far. Perhaps this is because it is on a Shakespeare play, and the pressure is high, or perhaps it comes from basing the post on notes made months ago. Either way, I would be interested to hear what you all think, because my stats tell me that I actually have a fair few followers!

Next week’s post will be ‘The Representation of Children in Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy’. Following that will hopefully be on Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Thanks for reading,

 - K