Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 342 views

    Essay Macbeth Streetcar

    Uploaded by

    api-319661964
    Gender roles and societal expectations influenced the characters in Macbeth and A Streetcar Named Desire. In both plays, women felt pressure to appear beautiful and obey men. Blanche from Streetcar tried to always look young, while Lady Macbeth tried to take on male traits to influence Macbeth's murder of Duncan. Men like Stanley and Macbeth followed expectations to be aggressive and masculine. These gender roles and social norms impacted the characters' desires and led some to make irrational decisions that caused their downfall.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Essay Macbeth Streetcar

    Uploaded by

    api-319661964
    342 views3 pages
    Gender roles and societal expectations influenced the characters in Macbeth and A Streetcar Named Desire. In both plays, women felt pressure to appear beautiful and obey men. Blanche from Streetcar tried to always look young, while Lady Macbeth tried to take on male traits to influence Macbeth's murder of Duncan. Men like Stanley and Macbeth followed expectations to be aggressive and masculine. These gender roles and social norms impacted the characters' desires and led some to make irrational decisions that caused their downfall.

    Original Title

    essay macbeth streetcar

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Gender roles and societal expectations influenced the characters in Macbeth and A Streetcar Named Desire. In both plays, women felt pressure to appear beautiful and obey men. Blanche from Streetcar tried to always look young, while Lady Macbeth tried to take on male traits to influence Macbeth's murder of Duncan. Men like Stanley and Macbeth followed expectations to be aggressive and masculine. These gender roles and social norms impacted the characters' desires and led some to make irrational decisions that caused their downfall.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    342 views3 pages

    Essay Macbeth Streetcar

    Uploaded by

    api-319661964
    Gender roles and societal expectations influenced the characters in Macbeth and A Streetcar Named Desire. In both plays, women felt pressure to appear beautiful and obey men. Blanche from Streetcar tried to always look young, while Lady Macbeth tried to take on male traits to influence Macbeth's murder of Duncan. Men like Stanley and Macbeth followed expectations to be aggressive and masculine. These gender roles and social norms impacted the characters' desires and led some to make irrational decisions that caused their downfall.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Danielle Mickens

    06/04/15
    Period 4

    Streetcar Named Desire and Macbeth Essay


    Both Shakespeare in the play Macbeth and Tennessee Williams in A Streetcar Named
    Desire coherently expresses that gender roles, human behavior, and societal expectations for both
    men and women impact the desires and ambitions of the people.
    In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, each characters decisions were influenced by
    societal pressures. The main character Blanche was fixated on always looking young and
    beautiful. During the time of these plays, women are always expected to be delicate nurturing
    sex symbols who have a decent education, understand the rules of cosmetics, and remain
    obedient to men. Blanche wanted to be the perfect women. She made sure she was always
    standing in the perfect lighting to look young and beautiful. I feel so hot and frazzled. Wait till I
    powder before you open the door. Do I look done in? (Williams 47) said Blanche, who never
    wanted to look unpresentable in front of others. Women are expected to be clean and groomed
    with perfect skin, hair and nails. Stella who even after being hit by her husband Stanley
    continued to stay with him because she knew that it was a womens job to obey their husband.
    They fought but always ended up together. The same went for the relationship between Eunice
    and Steve. One minute their yelling and fighting and the next thing you know their laughing and

    drinking. Lady Macbeth also had these characteristics that women were supposed to have but
    she asked that her nurturing and delicateness be taken away so she had the power of a man to
    take part in the death of King Duncan. Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex
    me here Come to my womens breasts, and take my milk for gall (Shakespeare 1.5. 47-48,
    54-55), said Lady Macbeth before Macbeth murdered King Duncan. Her inner humanity and
    guilt eventually lead to her downfall.
    Men also have societal expectations that affect their choices and ambitions in life. Men
    are supposed to be strong tough risk-takers who hold manly occupations such as police,
    firefighter, lawyer, etc. Theyre also assumed to be handy and know how to fix things. They are
    allowed to be sweaty and dirty sometimes unlike women. Stanley really represented what a
    typical man was supposed to look like and how they were to behave. He expressed his
    dominance in the house aggressively. He is compactly built and sizes women up at a glance
    with sexual classifications. (Williams 29) His wild and animalistic behavior followed the rules
    of men in society. Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh The men laugh
    (Williams 48), this clearly shows that men had no respect for women those days. Macbeth also
    followed these rules of masculinity. He was ruthless and killed any man, woman, or child that
    got in the way of his destiny. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting
    ambition which oerleaps itself (Shakespeare 1.7.25-28), said Macbeth before he killed King
    Duncan.

    Gender roles, human behavior, and societal expectations for both men and women impact
    the desires and ambitions of the people as shown in plays Macbeth by Shakespeare and A
    Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. These rules have lead characters to make
    unfortunate and irrational decisions that inevitably lead them to their downfall.

    You might also like