Macbeth– Practice 4
Starting with this extract, explore how Shakespeare presents ideas about masculinity in the play.
Write about
how Shakespeare presents ideas about masculinity in this extract
how Shakespeare presents ideas about masculinity in the play as a whole
Extract from Act 1 Scene 2
Sergeant Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonald--
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Showed like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.
Duncan O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!