Student’s name:_________________________
Period: ______
Date: ______________________
Mr. Cleon M. McLean
Department of English
Ontario High School
The Moral Dilemma in William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”
A Look at Gender
1.
2.
3.
Shakespeare employs the archetypal relationship paradigm of Adam and Eve to characterize the
relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, respectively.
The notion of “responsibility” is not formed in the same way, theoretically speaking, between the
two genders. Males’ formulization of responsibility stems from a sense of “commitment to
obligation or duty” (Aeneas’ reason for leaving Dido). On the other hand, females’ formulization of
responsibility stems from “responsiveness to relationships”. To be clear, Shakespeare reverses
these two gender roles. This is why Macbeth has a “dagger of the mind…[and a] heatoppressed brain” (2.1.38-39), because he knows he has a friendly relationship with King Duncan;
and Lady Macbeth would “…shame/To wear a heart so white [as Macbeth’s]” (2.2.63-64), for she
truly sees her participation in regicide as the fulfillment of her obligation.
Below are some ideas from Carol Gilligan’s (a student of Lawrence Kohlberg) In Different Voices,
and Remapping the Moral Doman: New Images of Self in Relationships
Male-related, though not
absolutely
animus—i.e., masculine persona
identity
separation/autonomy
(relationships may be
hierarchical or contractual)
detachment: the ability to put one’s
self in the place of another (this is, in a
sense, an abstraction that leads to
moral knowledge that always leads
back to the self). Here, “self” is
determined through depersonalization
or object relations, such as mirroring
and reflection—words devoid of
motion; lifeless.
(egoism)
E.g., Boy, “I want to play pirates.”
rights and rules
Formal logic of fairness
Making Moral
Judgments
Truth
Choice
Images of the Self
(different images
give rise to different
moral agencies).
Traditional
contrast between
egoism and
altruism
E.g., 2 girls and 1 boy
want to play different
games. Girls=next-door
neighbors; boy=pirates.
Female-related, though not
absolutely
anima—i.e., feminine persona
intimacy
relationship
(in the form of constraint or
cooperation)
attachment: the ability to know
others as a joining of stories (this, in a
sense, implies the possibility of learning
from others in a way that transforms
the self). Here, “self” is determined
through interactions and connections
(altruism)
E.g., Girl, “Okay, then you can be the
pirate that lives next door.” (This
joining of stories transforms the games
into a new one that neither gender had
originally intended)
caring
Psychological logic of fairness
Fairness
Informs notions
of “justice”
4. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “We see only what we know”.
5. Mourning (sorrowful; grieving) and Melancholia (gloominess; depression)
Psychologist John Bowlby: mourning signifies grief over the loss of an attachment whose felt
reality can be sustained in memory; melancholia signifies the isolation felt when an attachment
is found to be fragmentary.