Macbeth has a change of attitude from acts 1 and 2 to act 3. In the beginning of Macbeth, it is quite clear that Lady Macbeth used to "wear the pants in the relationship". She not only made the decisions, but she also enforced them as well. When Macbeth voiced his opinion that he was uncomfortable with killing King Duncan, she made sure that he still did it. While women were seen as the temptresses to men, which is shown in this case as Lady Macbeth is enforcing evil upon Macbeth, Macbeth is a coward for not doing what he wants to do. However, their is a change in pace for Macbeth. All of the sudden, Macbeth starts making the decisions and finally takes charge. Furthermore, he even leaves Lady Macbeth out of his plan, showing that he has truly taken the reigns on their relationship.
I think their is a clear reason for Macbeth's sudden urge to take the wheel when Lady Macbeth has been doing it their whole lives. Through out act 3, it is clear that Macbeth feels threatened by Banquo. If the prophecies are right, then Banquo will be the start of his family bloodline for his sons and grandsons. This would mean that Macbeth does not give the throne to any of his successors. If this is true, if Macbeth will be handing the throne off to Banquo's family, if Macbeth will not have any heirs, then he fought for a lost cause. His fight being killing King Duncan and his lost cause being that he will not be able to give the throne to someone from his bloodline. Macbeth killed a human being, something he can never take back. This action (strongly influenced by Lady Macbeth) corrupted his soul; it took away his dignity, his conscience, and his innocence. But for what? Furthermore, clearly killing King Duncan has affected him. When Banquo poses as a strong threat, he has no problem with hiring someone to kill him, a decision he made on his own. Before he killed Duncan, I don't think he would have made that call. But again, for what? Overall, Macbeth is angry that Lady Macbeth basically "bullied" him (yes, he is still a coward for letting her bully him into doing something he was unsettled about) into killing Duncan even though he just ended up fighting for Banquo's kids and gained nothing in the process. Therefore, he has decided to take matters into his own hands and take charge. Because Lady Macbeth really pushed him to kill Duncan when all of it may have been for nothing because their is a large possibility he won't have any successors, Macbeth is now thinking for himself.
On a different note, I realized something else. It felt odd in the beginning of the book that Lady Macbeth was wearing the pants in their relationship, and it was really Macbeth who needed to hold her hand. However, why should that have felt strange? While woman's rights are very good today (at least in America but they still have a long way to come), it still seems as if their is a mentality that men should and would make the decisions. In acts 1 and 2 their was a stereo typical "gender swap" and in act 3 is switched back to the "normal way" with the male being dominant and independent.
I agree with you in the sense that Macbeth had a major attitude change in act 3. I think he realized that he could potentially become a very powerful figure (King), yet I am questioning whether Macbeth is trying to gain the acceptance of Lady Macbeth. Although he didn’t include her in his plans to murder Banquo, I believe that he wanted to show her that he could be a real ‘man’ and achieve gruesome deeds on his own. His insecurity overpowered his ability to sympathize with others, and after murdering Duncan, I feel as though he abandoned all of his values and beliefs. He contradicted what he said about being a ‘real man’ because after murdering Duncan, it became much easier to murder his companion Banquo. Rather than ‘taking responsibility’, Macbeth is abusing his powers and with each and every bad decision he makes, he is digging a deeper hole for himself to climb out of.
ReplyDeleteThe odd feeling that you bring up Sasha definitely shows the gender dynamic Shakespeare uses in Macbeth. I agree with you and Sam, that Banquo's threat and Macbeth's 'manliness' both caused Macbeth to take over in act three. Lady Macbeth's speech to Macbeth about manliness convinced Macbeth to actually murder Duncan. The whole idea about being a man appears through all the acts, even Lady Macbeth mentions it in Act 3 when she asks Macbeth "are you a man?" after he freaks out over Banquo's ghost.
ReplyDeleteAlso it's ironic that when Lady Macbeth is in charge, she referred to strong character and will as being a "man" even though she as a woman posses those qualities when Macbeth does not (in Act 1).
The odd feeling you describe is true. It is all about our mentality and what we have perceived in the world around us. Although women's rights has come a long way, some prejudices are still around. Not a lot of people have a blatant sexist view anymore, however; the ideas are still there, and I think that's why there is some discomfort when a male is not in the dominant position. (It isn't anyone's fault, you just have to constantly combat the discomfort by being aware). It's interesting to see how Shakespeare's use of gender roles affects the characters in the play AND us as readers.