Gender

These flashcards are for the theme of 'Gender' in Macbeth.

Within the world of 'Macbeth', what are the stereotypical qualities women are initially presented as possessing?

Women are presented as compassionate, gentle, weak, fragile, sheltered, and peaceful.

Which character initially challenges the Jacobean stereotypes of femininity in the play?

Lady Macbeth challenges these stereotypes through her ruthless ambition and emotional manipulation.

What Jacobean concept suggested that traditional male gender roles restrict emotion while encouraging negative, often violent traits?

The concept of toxic masculinity.

How does Lady Macbeth's famous soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5 demonstrate her rejection of her own femininity?

She calls upon spirits to 'unsex' her, asking them to remove her feminine compassion and fill her with cruelty.

In her 'unsex me here' soliloquy, what does Lady Macbeth ask the spirits to do to her blood and why?

She asks them to 'make thick my blood' to stop up the 'access and passage to remorse', preventing feelings of guilt.

What does Lady Macbeth want the murdering ministers to take from her 'woman's breasts' and replace it with?

She asks them to take her 'milk for gall', symbolically trading her nurturing, maternal femininity for bitterness and poison.

What literary archetype, where a woman charms and seduces her lover to his detriment, can be applied to Lady Macbeth?

She can be viewed as a 'femme fatale'.

Lady Macbeth's manipulation of Macbeth is often seen as a parallel to which biblical story?

It parallels the story of Eve convincing Adam to eat the Forbidden Fruit, associating femininity with the fall of man.

How can Lady Macbeth's downfall be interpreted as a cautionary message from Shakespeare?

Her descent into insanity and suicide can be seen as a warning to women who overstep the boundaries of their prescribed gender roles.

What technique does Lady Macbeth use to manipulate her husband into murdering Duncan?

She frequently questions and attacks his masculinity.

Complete the quote from Lady Macbeth used to manipulate Macbeth: 'When you durst do it, then you were a ____.'

…man.'

What is the significance of Lady Macbeth's question, 'Are you a man?', in Act 3, Scene 4?

It perpetuates the idea that a man must always be brave and not emotionally sensitive, exploiting Macbeth's fragile masculinity.

By calling Macbeth a 'beast' for reconsidering the murder, what is Lady Macbeth doing?

She is dehumanising him and framing his moral hesitation as a betrayal of her and a failure of his manhood.

What physical characteristic of the Witches makes their gender ambiguous, according to Banquo?

Their beards forbid Banquo from interpreting that they are women.

The Witches, appearing in a group of three, can be seen as a symbolic inversion of what religious concept?

They can be seen as an 'anti-holy trinity', contrasting with the masculine Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

How does Shakespeare present the Witches' femininity?

He presents it as grotesque and revolting, an 'ugly' femininity that personifies the Jacobean perception of witches.

Like Lady Macbeth, the Witches act as catalysts for Macbeth's downfall, linking them to what archetypal female figure?

They are linked to the 'Eve' figure, temptresses who lead men to their doom.

What are the key 'masculine' expectations that characters in 'Macbeth' are judged by?

Masculinity is defined by being brave, violent, ambitious, daring, and decisive.

How does Shakespeare critique the model of masculinity celebrated at the start of the play?

He shows that Macbeth's perfect embodiment of these masculine traits leads directly to his downfall, not his success.

What is the central tragedy of Macbeth's masculinity?

His tragedy lies not in his failure to be masculine enough, but in his perfect embodiment of a destructive model of masculinity.

How does Lady Macduff's fate challenge the play's moral framework regarding gender roles?

Her brutal murder, despite conforming perfectly to the role of a sheltered and gentle woman, reveals that conformity offers no protection.

When Lady Macduff complains that her husband lacks the 'natural touch', she compares him unfavourably to which bird?

She compares him to the 'poor wren', the most diminutive of birds, who will fight an owl to protect its young.

What does Shakespeare suggest about women's position in the Jacobean world through the fates of Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff?

He suggests women are trapped; subverting gender roles leads to destruction, but conforming to them offers no safety.

How does Macduff challenge Jacobean masculine ideals when he learns of his family's murder?

He insists he must 'feel it as a man', showing that true masculinity incorporates emotional sensitivity and grief, not just violence.

In what way is Macduff's act of killing Macbeth, an act of regicide, different from Macbeth's murder of Duncan?

Macduff's actions are prompted by love for his country and rightful king, whereas Macbeth's were driven by selfish ambition.

An alternative interpretation of Lady Macbeth's manipulation is that it criticises a society that denies women what?

It can be seen as a critique of a society that denies women their own freedom and autonomy, forcing them to act through men.

The belief that everything in the universe has a specific, divinely ordained rank, which Macbeth's ambition violates, is known as the _.

Great Chain of Being (or Divine Order).

In the Jacobean era, a woman's dominance over her husband, like Lady Macbeth's, was often linked with what unnatural practice?

It was linked with witchcraft, implying that it was unnatural for women to have power over men.

What does Shakespeare imply about humanity when a character defies their prescribed gender roles, as Lady Macbeth does?

By linking her 'unsexed' state with 'spirits', Shakespeare suggests you lose your humanity if you defy your gender roles.

Lady Macbeth's inability to kill Duncan herself because he 'resembled my father as he slept' serves as an early sign of what?

It is an early sign of her underlying humanity and weakness, foreshadowing her eventual collapse under guilt.

What is significant about the fact that Lady Macbeth's power is purely mental?

It highlights her dependency on Macbeth; while she orchestrates the plan, she does not commit any acts of violence herself.

The Jacobean King, James I, wrote a book on witchcraft called 'Daemonologie' and believed women were more susceptible to evil because of which biblical figure?

He believed women were more easily influenced by evil because Eve was the first to be tricked by the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

How does Lady Macbeth's language in her soliloquies subvert dramatic conventions of the time?

She is given multiple powerful soliloquies, a dramatic device usually reserved for male characters, highlighting her unconventional nature.