.
Shakespeare believed that the society which he lived in placed to much trust in the gender roles which they themselves had erected and used Lady macbeth's transgression from them as a warning against the ignorance that came with belief without reason. Throughout history women have been selected as the weaker sex, and have been punished for it by they counterparts, males. In shakespeares time things were no different, women were expected to be the submissive, nurturing, caring, emotional and incapable of crime. Shakespeare saw this as it was, a lie. After reading Macbeth's letter explaining his meeting with the witches Lady Macbeth instantly decides to force macbeth to take the quick route to power, through the murder of Duncan. "O never shall sun that morrow see" This power driven ambition is the first sign of her transgression, however Shakespeare has her break nearly all the traditional attributes but one example is when she shatters the mothering quality, "Pluck"d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash"d the brains out.". Shakespeare suggests that his fellow people should not expect others to follow the roles set out, male and females as the roles are not truthful to humanity and in simplicity are easy to break.
Modern understandings of gender and the boundaries of acceptable conduct alter our.
reading of shakespeares carefully constructed questions. Gender roles have come a long way since Jacobean times, men are now expected to feel emotions and are not expected to hide them. It is a result of this that the modern day reader interacts with macbeth in ways that Shakespeare probably never expected. At the exposition to the play the image of macbeth which is created is not completely taken aboard, instead the reader waits to find the faults within him which are inevitable. When the reader discovers these flaws they do not discover shakespeares questions on gender, quite on the contrary they accept this new persona as closest to the truth.
