Explore the gender roles in Macbeth and the Taming of the Shrew

Explore the gender roles in Macbeth and the Taming of the Shrew “Shrews” and “Tyrants” are explored in Macbeth and the Taming of the Shrew through generic contextual gender stereotypes. Shakespeare outlines the controversy of gender roles during the Renaissance period; these works have become ever more dubious as ideas of feminism have in recent years overcome most misogynistic concepts. The exploration of the perception of masculinity and women being outsiders in both plays has been interpreted by many directors and actors; they remodel the plays in order to highlight the changes in the views of the audiences by reinforcing or discouraging the gender roles.

Shakespeare enforces the idea that for a woman to be different, she is an outsider, for example in Macbeth the witches are seen to be outcasts of society. Macbeth refers to them as “imperfect speakers”, the emphasis on the word “imperfect” suggests that Macbeth believes the witches are inferior to him and what they say shouldn’t be taken seriously. Shakespeare gives the idea to the audience that there is a ‘perfect’ speaker, someone who can manipulate him that he respects and listens to. Perhaps his ‘perfect’ speaker is Lady Macbeth, despite the fact that she is a woman Macbeth recognises and acknowledges her thirst for power. Not only are the witches’ outcasts to society, they are also women, who in the Jacobean era would have been considered as the underclass and inferior to men.

Women with the power to determine the fate of a higher class man would have been seen as something quite disturbing to a renaissance audience, a woman’s duty was to marry and have and take care of children not to govern the life of a man. The witches evoke “a fear of female power”[1] in the audience, in the text there are examples to back up this view, when Macbeth says, “I will to the weird sisters go”, implying that they are not in fact of lesser importance than Macbeth but powerful beings and capable of much more than just physical destruction but also psychological destruction. The Australian version of Macbeth[6], portrays the witches as being provocative and sexually attractive, maintaining the view that they are powerful and have something that Macbeth wants from them.

In contrast in the Taming of the Shrew, Katherina is not constantly feared throughout the play; the power that she has isn’t necessarily influential to the other characters, except for Bianca. Katherina holds her power in her presence and by providing physical discomfort for men however the witches have a lasting mental impact on Macbeth through the use of their words and predictions. “From all such devils good lord deliver us”, this illustrates that Katherina is formidable in the eyes of Bianca’s suitors. By calling her the “devil” they are showing that they are terrified of her assault on Eagleton’s “male dominated world”[2] and that only that of hell can be as evil as Katherina.

Katherina is a total outsider compared with compliant Bianca who is described as “sacred and sweet”. The word “sacred” makes Bianca appear to be God’s gift and should be treasured; Baptista is doing just that by almost auctioning off her eldest daughter before he shares his precious and perhaps undeservedly cherished younger daughter with the cavaliers. Shakespeare has included Bianca in the play to reinforce the idea of contrariety. Even at the end of the play when Katherina has supposedly conformed to Petruchio she is still different to Bianca and the Widow, she is perhaps still considered an outsider because she understands why she should submit herself to men whereas Bianca and the Widow just do it because it is in the nature.

Because of this they are complacent and see themselves as a prize rather than an obedient companion. “It is suddenly far from clear, who is the real ‘shrew’ of the play’s title”[3]. This implies that the whole idea behind the Taming of the Shrew is adaptable depending on the perspective you take on it. Bianca’s ignorance to the way people treat her and by the end, the way she treats others make her goddess-like appeal less attractive, she could be depicted as the real enemy in the play. “Fie” she gets angry when she is asked to do something she doesn’t want to do; she calls the gentlemen “foolish” she thinks they aren’t serious and that she is of some kind of superiority over her husband because she is everything that Lucentio wanted.

The Bianca the audience had seen early on in the play had turned into the disobedient wife; this was certainly not how the renaissance audience would have expected it to end. For the “sweet beauty” of the play to end up being the “shrew” in the end gives the Elizabethan audience a different perspective on the good and bad in women and the idea that Shakespeare did believe that outspoken women had the best potential to be a better, conventional wife. In the BBC Shakespeare retold adaptation[7] Bianca is depicted as being extremely successful but also very shallow, manipulative and almost apathetic to Kate and Harry.

The BBC have taken her character as the spoilt daughter that the modern audience is all too familiar with, therefore adding comic appeal; it also signifies a change in the way a woman is viewed as “modest”, in the Elizabethan era modesty was shown when a woman wouldn’t speak out of line, it was also a way in a which a man would describe a woman’s beauty, if she was fair she would also be considered modest. However in modern society, modesty is when somebody doesn’t sing their praises, of which Bianca is neither in this version. Shakespeare also challenges masculinity in the Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth. It was highly unusual in the Elizabethan era for a man’s power, strength and ability to be questioned.

In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth talks to Macbeth as if he has courage but not much ambition, however we see how his character progresses, or even regresses, into a much more fearless and merciless character that Lady Macbeth assumes she desires at the beginning. “When you durst do it, then you were a man”, until Macbeth carries out with his promise he is apparently not a man, Lady Macbeth completely ignores the valour that Macbeth had demonstrated at the beginning of the play when “he unseamed a man from the nave to the chaps”. It is almost as if he is not a man until he carries out his wife’s wish, breaking a promise is shown to be bigger atrocity than actually committing murder under the eyes of Lady Macbeth. “Lady Macbeth associates manhood with courage or even violence”[4], this suggests that Lady Macbeth believes that any violent attack can be justified with courage and bravery. Despite the fact that Macbeth is seen to be weak because he doesn’t wish to carry out the attack on Duncan, the audience feels sympathy with him.

Shakespeare has put over the blame onto Lady Macbeth and the way she peer-pressure’s him into doing something that he doesn’t necessarily lust after, he simply wishes for it to come naturally, “if chance will have me king, then why chance will crown me”. His reliance on “chance” is disappointing to Lady Macbeth and his edge as “brave Macbeth” is diminished. His manhood is controverted if he doesn’t want to fight for what he wants. In the Rupert Goold version of the play[8], you can see how Macbeth’s ideas on how to become King start to unfold; he relies on chance in order to combat his traitorous thoughts. Macbeth could be seen as stronger because of this, to have mercy over life and limits within his morals make him a more respected man than one who is willing to go to any lengths just to fulfil his selfish desires.

In the Taming of the Shrew Katherina spends most of the play challenging the male gender, she constantly resents the power they have and throws petty insults in return. With Petruchio she is unafraid to affront him, “no such jade as you”, she implies she is too good for him. This insult would have been considered extremely disrespectful in the eyes of the Elizabethan audience; to insinuate that a man is “jaded” gives the audience an impression that he is old and unfertile. A man’s importance would have been questioned if he could not have children; perhaps Katherina is suggesting that Petruchio isn’t virile and is trying to strip back his manhood to belittle and intimidate him.

In this part of the play Katherina is trying to suppress Petruchio and make him feel uncomfortable around her, however Petruchio ends up being impressed by Katherina’s need for freedom from men, like her father and her soon-to-be husband; he looks to her as a challenge, “born to tame you”. He initially only takes her on because of her “dowry” but he ends up being excited by her. A renaissance woman’s voice was completely dismissed, for Petruchio to imply that his sole purpose in life is to force Katherina to conform would have been unheard of; a man would have usually said he was born to fight or to make wealthy, not necessarily devote his life to a woman.

In the Franco Zefferelli version of the play[9], Katherina’s frustration to gain authority in the conversation is mirrored with her naivety and childish behaviour when she throws a guitar at the wall and runs away from him. Zefferelli speeds up the confrontation and makes it fast and energetic with quick-witted insults, “Asses are made to be bear and so are you”, he does this in order to highlight the adjacency between the two characters. They bounce off of each other with back-handed comments; there is almost a sense of dramatic irony because the audience can see how perfectly matched the pair are, we already know that they will probably fall in love as soon as Katherina loses her guard.

“Petruchio could never have endured a tame wife”[5], this idea almost empowers Petruchio and make him appear to be dominant, perhaps Katherina is his ultimate test against his authority that he must undergo in order to fulfil his idea of manhood through suppressing women. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, gender roles, as prescribed by Elizabethan ideology are constantly manipulated throughout the play. In many instances, gender is out of its traditional order. Shakespeare explores the relationship between gender and power, portraying male characters as strong willed and courageous, but at the same time assigning a female character – Lady Macbeth a ruthless, power-hungry personality which is usually associated with masculinity. “Unsex me here” Lady Macbeth defies her gender role as an Elizabethan woman. She asks the spirits to give her masculine qualities and make her stronger so she can kill Duncan.

She realizes that Macbeth is “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” and adopts the dominant role in the relationship in order to achieve what she wants. Perhaps kindness isn’t what draws Macbeth back, it is his humanity. By “un-sexing” Lady Macbeth, she almost becomes inhuman and takes on a merciless role which dictates Macbeth’s decision which later leads to his downfall.

The Taming of the Shrew delves into the social roles of men and women, particularly how gender affects the decision making process when it comes to marriage. Lucentio’s economic status is the ultimate reason for his and Bianca’s romance. “Two thousand ducats by the year”; Bianca has no power or say in the situation, marriage during the Elizabethan period was an institution of economics and power, not love. Their marriage ultimately only occurs because Baptista approves. The patriarchal power is the greatest misogyny in the play, it determines the fate of Katherina and ignores what she wants, a voice.

References:

[1][2] Terry Eagleton William Shakespeare, 1986 [3] Marjorie Garber, 2004 [4] Barbora Sramkova, 1996 [5] Margaret Webster, 1942 [6] Geoffrey Wright, 2006 [7] David Richards, 2005 [8] Rupert Goold, 2010 [9] Franco Zefferelli, 1967