Gender Roles in Macbeth Although written long ago, Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth still features themes relevant to contemporary society. Murderous ambitions, political intrigue, cunning social alliances, disintegration of marriage - these could be the headlines of any daily news broadcast. It is not surprising, then, that we also find a significant number of moments in the work where gender appears to be an issue. More specifically, we might say that Shakespeare's dramatic inquiry into the proper uses of power consists, in part, in a rigorous critique of the disparities between the respective roles assigned to men and women. Shakespeare seems particularly interested in the moral and ethical implications of such discrepancies. In the interest of space and time, I will focus here on only a few brief moments from the first act. However, I encourage you to note the further development of these points as the drama unfolds in subsequent scenes. In the very first scene of Macbeth we learn what Duncan and his people value in male identity. When the sergeant staggers in to report what he has seen of Macbeth in battle, we are given the image of a blood-soaked thane: For brave Macbeth (well, he deserves that name), Disdaining fortune, with his steel brandished , who steamed with bloody execution, like Valor's servant carving out his passage, until he faced the slave; who never shook his hand, nor said good-bye, until he unstitched him from the nave to the bracioli, and fixed his head on our battlements. (1.2.16-23)The king's response to this tale is particularly significant: "O brave cousin, worthy gentleman!" (1.2.16-24) shows equally appreciation for the way in which Macbeth has overcome h...... middle of paper ......41). At the end of the show, we are faced with her madness, the result of a wrenching tension between her identity as a woman and her desire to embrace an ill-conceived and fatally monstrous masculinity. Even if I do not intend to resolve the issue of gender in Macbeth here (indeed, I hope to provoke further interpretative reflections), I would however like to note that Shakespeare has strongly linked the cultural problem of violence to the promulgation and validation of the roles that a community assigns based on to sex. Read the play; attend a show; consider the moral and ethical implications related to the plot of a would-be king who abandons true manhood even as he realizes the masculine ideal. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longmann, 1999.