Lady Macbeth's Masculinity
English Lit: AQA GCSE Macbeth, topic 6.2.6
Masculinity - Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is a woman with masculine traits who wants to have her femininity removed. She attacks Macbeth's masculinity at various points in the play.
‘Unsex me here...
- ‘Come you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here / And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull / Of direst cruelty’ (1,5).
- Lady Macbeth wishes that she could be more masculine and have the qualities that people thought belonged to men.
- These included strength, courage and ruthlessness, as can be seen in this quote.
- She uses many imperative (ordering) verbs here to show she is in command.
- She orders the spirits to ‘unsex’ her because she wants to be less feminine.
‘Pale and green’ (1,7)
- This is one of the ways Lady Macbeth attacks Macbeth’s masculinity when he shows doubts about going through with the murder.
- She asks him if he would rather live in fear than take action for the things he wants: ‘Art thou afeared / To be the same in thine own act and valour, / As thou art in desire?’
- By questioning his bravery, she suggests that he is weak. Men were supposed to be strong.
'Are you a man?'
- When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, Lady Macbeth says: 'Are you a man?' (3,4).
- Madness was seen as a disorder that only affected women.
‘Bring forth men-children'
‘Bring forth men-children only, / For thy undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males’ (1,7).
- When Macbeth says these words to his wife, it reflects the value of bravery at the time. He is saying that her bravery – ‘undaunted mettle’ – is so praiseworthy and masculine that the only children she will give birth to will be males.
- Again, this suggests that Lady Macbeth has some masculine traits in the play.