Macbeth’s Gender Role Reversal Essay Example for Free

Macbeth’s Gender Role Reversal Essay William Shakespeare’s tragedy â€Å"Macbeth† completely challenges the idea of traditional gender roles and social norms during the renaissance period. The male characters have many feminine traits while the female characters have many more masculine and manlier traits. This was going entirely against the stereotypical outlook of the roles you’re supposed to play as your gender during that time of history. During the renaissance period women were only expected to clean, cook, and to have babies. Men on the other hand were typically expected to work hard and to provide for the home. Socially women didn’t have power or respect and men were the ones who were supposed to be brave and tough at the best of times and the worst of times. That idea is challenged many times throughout Macbeth as their are several examples where Lady Macbeth remains strong while Macbeth crumbles and becomes weak. The play consistently challenges the society norms of gender roles. It’s obvious the Macbeth’s don’t serve as your stereotypical husband and wife. Right away throughout the first couple of acts, Shakespeare introduces Lady Macbeth’s character as an assertive and dominant woman that makes the decisions over her husband Macbeth. Lady Macbeth really makes it apparent that she wears the pants in there relationship. For example, in scene 1 act 5 when Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth King Duncan is coming and he seems to be very hesitant on how he will handle the King’s presence. Lady Macbeth takes charge and asserts her dominance by saying, â€Å"He that’s coming/ Must be provided for, and you shall put/ This night’s great business into my dispatch† (scene 1 act 5 64-66).In traditional society, if the king is coming to your house, it would be very unusual for the lady of the house to be in charge of handling the appearance by the king. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth also exchange roles in the way they handle their emotions and the way they handle the guilt. For instance, when it comes to the thought of murder and death, Lady Macbeth shows no mercy, and when King Duncan was murdered, she remained unphased by the act. This is apparent when she deals with Macbeth leaving the gory daggers at the site of the murder, â€Å"Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/ Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood/ That fears a painted devil.†(scene 2 act 2 56-58). Macbeth is portrayed as emotionally unstable and soft as he is afraid to even go back into the room where the murder took place, â€Å"I’ll go no more/ I am afraid to think what I have done†(scene 2 act 2 54-55). This interaction between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth really shows the unusual roles one another play in their relationship because, in a situation where someone is murdered or there is a serious crime, women aren’t usually t he ones who are brave and strong-minded about it, men are. As the play goes on, Lady Macbeth begins to lose her fierce and intimidating persona as Macbeth becomes the more assertive and dominant one. Lady Macbeth starts losing her edge when it becomes less difficult to get Macbeth to follow through with his murderous acts. Anytime Macbeth thinks you’re interfering with his kinship, he’ll have no problem taking you down and getting you out of his way. Macbeth no longer needs Lady Macbeth to persuade him. This is very apparent when he shows no mercy planning the murder of Banquo, â€Å"There’s comfort yet, they are assailable/ Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown/ His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons/ The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums/ Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done/ A deed of dreadful note† (scene 3 act 2 40-44). A completely different Macbeth we see out of this quote, no longer hesitant and no longer appearing to be affected by guilt. Now that Macbeth is this individual who is ready and eager to kill, Lady Macbeth begins to show the side of her that wasn’t present at the beginning of the play, â€Å"Come on. Gentle my lord/ Sleek o’er your rugged looks, be bright and jovial/ Among your guests tonight† (act 3 scene 2 26-28). Lady Macbeth expresses emotion and traits of care, unlike any other time. The play Macbeth features many different gender reversals throughout the entire play. Shakespeare really tests the normality of having women be the assertive and dominant one in a marriage while having the man be kind of timid and soft. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s gender reversals distinctively show the extreme traits one another possess and it gives an opposite perspective than what we are used to. Whatever goes up always must come down, and when Lady Macbeth and Macbeth begin to form into traditional gender roles, that becomes the start of their decline.

The Real Sucker Essay -- essays research papers

The Real Sucker Geoff Karanasos CARSON McCULLERS December 12, 1996   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many Different experiences in a child's life help form the personality and attitude he or she will adopt later in life. One such example of this is a fictional character named Sucker. This young boy really admired his cousin Pete, whom he lived with. Sucker was just an innocent child who would believe anything Pete said. The more Sucker admired Pete, the more Pete resented Sucker. This went on until Pete met a girl. Pete was so happy that he didn't mind Sucker's admiration toward him. Sucker became a bright enthusiastic child who loved being around Pete. He was so happy that he didn't want anything to change. After Pete got dumped, he turned all of his frustrations toward Sucker. Sucker then...

Great Gatsby Essay, Character Corruption Essay

Throughout the novel of The Great Gatsby corruption is a prevalent and reoccurring theme and lies within most characters. They become overwhelmed with their own self desires and goal to gain material possession that it blocks their true vision of innocence and morality. Daisy for example is introduced into the book as an innocent dedicated wife to Tom but as the book progresses there is an evident change in her character as she becomes increasingly corrupt. By the end of the book Daisy is selfish, destructive and careless as she handles the situation between her husband, Tom, and her ex lover, Gatsby. For example of her being careless, she lets Gatsby take the blame for her killing of Myrtle Wilson which eventually leads to Gatsby’s death which she seems to show no concern. She is destructive by cheating on her husband while having no real intentions of leaving him for Gatsby. Tom from the beginning of the novel was always seen as corrupt when he has an ongoing affair with Myrtle to satisfy his own needs and leave those needs and feelings of Daisy behind him. He focuses more on monetary value of things and his own self appearance than to the care which Daisy requires out of him as a husband. Tom is also a hypocrite in a way when he catches Daisy and realizes what she has been doing behind his back, he becomes fierce and angry with her while at the same time he has been doing the same behind her back for years. Jordan Baker is also extremely corrupt because of her dishonesty and her need to gossip. She is a social climber who will cling to anyone who means anything or has money for her to grasp onto. She will do whatever it takes to win or get her way, as shown when she cheats in her round of golf to win the tournament. Everything she does is for show and has no regard for other people or their feelings. She goes to Gatsby’s parties with no real concern for who he is while showing no gratitude or thanks for having the party. She is constantly looking out for herself and only herself trying to figure out ways in which she can be seen and become popular in the West and East Egg community. When Daisy was having her affair with Gatsby, Jordan supported her and was behind her during the whole thing, another example of corruption within Jordan. The people of West and East Egg are also all corrupt and consumed with themselves. This is shown when Gatsby dies because only two people show up to his funeral Nick and his father. These people attending his parties have no care for him or his house while they’re there and cannot even pay respect to a man that has died and has given every one of them more then he needed to. Gatsby himself is also a corrupt character in the book yet not nearly as blatantly as the others. Gatsby is corrupted by love and his dream to be with Daisy. Everything he’s ever done in his life such as the money he’s made and the parties he throws are for the slightest chance of him becoming reacquainted with his lost love, Daisy. He is constantly being used by everyone in West and East Egg as an outlet to their everyday lives. They have no regard for who he is and nor do they care. The people come and go as if it is routine for these parties and show no thanks to Gatsby. He has no true friends besides Nick in Egg. Gatsby, over the time of becoming rich has become overwhelmed and brought into the world of expensive material things all to impress Daisy, who previously could not be with him because he was not wealthy. All he can do is show that off so that in the slight chance she comes to one of his parties he can show her is wealth and what he has become. Gatsby is so drawn into and brain-washed over Daisy that she is all he can think about and all he sees is that green light across the bay, dreaming of the time when he and Daisy can finally be together again. This dream is crushed though because he cannot compete with Tom. Tom being categorized under ‘old money’ while Gatsby is categorized under ‘new money’ and big distinction in the communities of West and East Egg. He has devoted his life to becoming an exclusive member to the ‘old money’ people in Long Island but will never be able to reach that goal which corresponds to his goal of end up with Daisy. Corruption is an over arching theme throughout The Great Gatsby and all characters seem to reveal it in their own way with the exception of Nick who stays true to his midwest routes. Nick is never consumed in the material world or has the desire for anything greater than which he already has while all the other characters are always greedy and have desire for more things. They are all absorbed in their own world and worries that they have no time to see what others are doing or how they feel which is an easy way to lead to a corrupted lifestyle.

Essay on Power of Men in William Shakespeares The...

Power of Men in William Shakespeares The Winters Tale It has been said that in The Winters Tale Shakespeare dramatises the contemporary struggle between masculine and feminine power. In light of this comment, examine the presentation of the relationships between men and women. Despite their many differences, contemporary society is now only beginning to realise their equal and respective roles in society. Since the beginning of time a contemporary struggle for equality has been present between masculine and feminine powers. The biblical stories of creation have often been used as an excuse to mistreat women. The mythical story of The Garden of Eden has been used to display women being easily seduced into wrong doing The†¦show more content†¦Unlike the other male writers of his time, Shakespeare had proven very hard to catergorise and this is reflected by the humanity of his female character. Critic Irene Dash states Shakespeares women characters testify to his genius... they learn from the meaning of self-sovernity for a woman in a patriarchal society. The female characters of The Winters Tale prove Dashs comment, as Shakespeare shows of the goodness women through: the fierce honesty of Hermione, the youthful constancy of her daughter Perdita and the consummate righteousness of Paulina, Hermiones lady-in-waiting, who stands up to King Leontes when no one else will. Shakespeare provides the audience with three females namely Hermione, Perdita and Paulina who are constanly right yet have no power whereas men such as Leontes who have all of the power and yet are constantly wrong. Through the presentation of his characters Shakespeare is illustrating the inequality and oppression of women in the 17th century, thus highlighting the contemporary struggle between masculine and feminine powers. 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