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Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Good Essays

The play, “Macbeth” is one of William Shakespeare’s tragic plays written approximately in 1606. The play centres on Macbeth who is a general in King Duncan’s army. Upon returning from a successful battle, Macbeth is confronted by three witches who claim they know the future. The three witches tell Macbeth that he will be the future King. The events that occur after this encounter between Macbeth and the witches are what makes this play a tragedy. This essay will focus on the treatment of gender in “Macbeth” through focusing on the character of Lady Macbeth. It will do so by discussing three predominant themes: female dominance, gender in a general sense and role reversals. In the play, female dominance is seen through the character of Lady Macbeth; gender is highlighted through all characters, however, to help the stance of this essay it will be discussed with reference to Lady Macbeth; and role reversals are seen through the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth must kill King Duncan so that he can be King. Macbeth feels pressured and afraid of the deed that he must commit as he considers the consequences of murdering King Duncan, “…But in these cases / We still have judgement here” (1.7.7-8). Lady Macbeth feeds mortal thoughts of killing to Macbeth (Favila 1) and overpowers him by challenging his manhood. This eventually leads him to commit the act of murder. Macbeth conflict with what is right and wrong and mortal thoughts definitely do haunt him, but it is

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