Masculinity “The man, most man, works best for men: and, if most man indeed, he gets his manhood plainest from his soul.” ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the dramatic tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare, masculinity becomes a trait that is manipulated by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth manipulates this trait in Macbeth by questioning his manhood and convincing him to murder Duncan, King of Scotland. The same way Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband, Macbeth provokes …showed first 75 words of 659 total…

…showed last 75 words of 659 total…to which her husband defends himself. Macbeth tries to convince the ghost that “whatever man dares, [he] dares” (III.iv. 101)! He raises his ego and then states that “being gone, - [he][is] a man again” (III.iv. 110). Manipulation plays a large role in this Shakespearean tragedy. A person’s masculinity comes from within. Macbeth’s masculinity was played with and manipulated. Unfortunately, he never learned that “he gets his manhood plainest from his soul.”