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Examples Of Manhood In Macbeth

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Macbeth: The violent, yet sensitive, man
According to Regan (2000:99), “One of the symptoms of an unstable social order is an unstable sense of selfhood or identity, and in Macbeth, this manifests itself most obviously in shifting definitions of manhood and manliness.” In this essay, the various definitions and perspectives of manhood and manliness in Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1970) and the influence of the different perspectives on Macbeth’s sense of selfhood or identity will be explored.
Macbeth is filled with various definitions of what and how a man should be and these definitions have certain influences on the men in the play, the implications of the definitions is especially obvious when it comes to Macbeth.
Malcolm’s perspective of how a man should be is one of violence and heroism, not emotions. Malcolm tells Macduff “Let’s make us medicines of our great revenge,/ To cure this deadly grief” (4.3.216), to let go of the pain “like a man” (4.3.222) and turn his sadness into anger (4.3.232). Malcolm suggests that instead of dealing with his pain and …show more content…

The definitions don’t give much space for a man like Macbeth, who shows different sides of all these definitions referred to in the play.
Above the various definitions in of manhood and manliness were explored, but Macbeth is the one character who does not fit into just one of these definitions. Throughout the play, he can be seen to fit into more than one of the perspectives of what a man should be that society force upon him. Regan makes a valid point in the fact that the shifting definitions are the cause of an “unstable sense of selfhood or identity.” It can also be said that Macbeth has always had an unstable sense of identity, since he was so easily manipulated by Lady Macbeth and the

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