Gilgamesh

Today, men expected to show many different characteristics. For example, we expect a man who can protect his own family or between friends we expect someone who can endure his friendship. We can not tell the exact meaning of being a man. There is no simple definition. However, in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the definition is narrow and clear. Male maturity is full of selfishness and cruelty but also loyalty to others. Everyone in the play shares this basic definition of a real man which gives Lady Macbeth the power to harass her husband into acting selfishly, which eventually leads to his demise. Although it can be argued that Macbeth is evil by nature, the play shows that the seeds of his evil truly lie in the definition of what it means to be a man.

          

Primarily, Macbeth was following the expectation of manhood during the war, to serve his lies and kill his enemies. In the war, he killed the enemy troops with his cruelty and rage. But the Captain was proud that Macbeth is strong like a man. He said “Brave Macbeth, laughing at Luck, chopped his way through to Macdonwald, who didn’t even have time to say good-bye or shake hands before Macbeth split him open from his navel to his jawbone and stuck his head on our castle walls” (5), Thus, Macbeth is described  as a cruel and brave but worthy soldier who fought for his own homeland. The king Duncan  also liked this part of Macbeth. He said,  “My brave relative! What a worthy man!” (5), He was happy, thank to Macbeth. Thus The Captain and the king agree that Macbeth is a real man. His cruelty and rage here ensured that his reputation was good.

Macbeth started to change at the moment he heard his fate from the witches. He was excited by the idea of being king, but held back his desire.  After Duncan honored Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor, after he got some power, he thought to himself, “To become king myself, I’m either going to have to step over him or give up, because he’s in my way. Stars, hide your light so no one can see the terrible desires within me. I won’t let my eye look at what my hand is doing, [...]” (29), Clearly, he wanted to be a king, but he knows it is wrong so he is controlling himself. Unfortunately, his desire showed up again when he met his wife and heard her perfect plan of murder. Lady Macbeth was able to use Macbeth’s manly nature to encourage cruelty against the king rather than for the king. As soon he was honored and got power, his desire could not know to stop. Therefore, Macbeth nature matches with the definition of what it means to be a man. He is brave and bold, but, this brave boldness can be turned to evil.   

Behind Macbeth who was struggling between conscience and desire, there was Lady Macbeth who does not care what is wrong or what is right. Everything that she wanted to do was right for her. While her husband was getting a new title and being honored by the king, she was thinking to make Macbeth act the way he desired. Without an enjoyable moment to feel his honor, Lady Macbeth began to push him to his deep desire inside of his heart. She emasculated and insulted him as a man, “ Will you take the crown you want so badly or will you live as a coward always saying “I can’t” after you say “I want to”? (43)”. She is suffocating Macbeth because he changed his mind to give up. She explains her plan carefully so that Macbeth can change his mind again. Lady Macbeth also said to him what it means to be a real man; “If you weren’t a man, then what kind of animal were you when you first told me you wanted to do this? When you dared to do it, that’s when you were a man. And if you go one step further by doing what you dared to do before, you’ll be that much more the man. (45)”. So Lady Macbeth successfully uses the definition of man to force Macbeth to act on his desire. With these insults and swear words, Lady Macbeth encouraged her husband to be a man and murderer. Finally Macbeth did kill the king and was reborn as murderer with his bloody hands that is not washable forever.

The definition of a man in the book Macbeth is someone who act the way they desire. When desire leads to bravery, boldness and cruelty that is used for the king and for his homeland, Macbeth is honored. But, when that bravery and cruelty is used against the king and his friends, Macbeth is punished. Even though others are doing the same thing as Macbeth who followed the definition of manhood unconsciously, but if that was a revenge of against an enemy, that does not count as a crime. If an enemy acts with bold cruelty that counts as a crime and that person must be punished. There always are men or women who encourage the crime behind their back. For example, when Malcolm and Macduff were full of rage to Macbeth, Macduff said; “Instead of crying, let’s keep hold of our swords and defend our fallen homeland like honorable men. (157)”. His thought is that a crime is fine for revenge and their homeland. That is the same thing that Macbeth did in the war. He killed his enemies so cruelly for his homeland and revenge, and he was also honored by the king for killing enemies. However, this is also the seed of evil. Any of these men who combine this rage and boldness with their own selfish desire can turn against their king and homeland. Then, the same qualities of manhood that brought them honor now make them evil monsters.  Macbeth felt remorse when he heard her wife’s death, and he just realized that he made a terrible choice that he can not be removed from in his life. He said; “Life is nothing more than an illusion. [...] Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning. (203)” Clearly, Macbeth is ashamed of his place that he got inappropriately.