Changing Gender Roles in William Shakespeare's Macbeth Much attention has been paid to the theme of "manliness" as it appears throughout Macbeth. In his introduction to Macbeth in The Riverside Shakespeare, Frank Kermode argues that the play is about "the eclipse of civilization and manhood, [and] the temporary triumph of evil" (1307). Stephen Greenblatt makes the same point in The Norton Shakespeare, crediting Lady Macbeth with encouraging her husband through both "sexual provocation" and "the terrible strength of her determination" (2557-58). Macbeth responds to his wife with "a clear sense of the proper boundaries of his identity as a male and as a human being, [telling her] 'I dare do all that becomes a man;/He that dares do more is none' ( I.7.46-47)" (2558). Both Kermode and Greenblatt's notions focus on how Macbeth's masculinity is recognized and defined – by Macbeth himself as well as the potentially influential people around him. The critics who introduced the play in these important anthologies perceive in Macbeth's character the same weakness as the apparently evil forces that play on him: Macbeth's masculinity becomes the psychological vehicle through which he becomes angry, inspired and ultimately driven to 'action. "Manliness" must be questioned, it is not likely to occur in the male-dominated world of battlefields and military victories that Shakespeare introduces in Act I, scene 2. In this passage, the bleeding Captain praises the Macbeth's heroism, contesting. . . brave Macbeth - well, he deserves that name! - scornful fortune, with his brandished steel smoking with bloody execution, as the servant of valor dug his passage until he faced the slave, who in... middle of paper ... ... Modern Language University Association 70 (November 1988): 366-85.Dolan, Frances. The Taming of the Shrew: texts and contexts. Boston: Bedford, 1996. Greenblatt, Stephen. "Introduction to Macbeth." The Norton Shakespeare. New York: Norton, 1997. 2555-63. Hawkins, Michael. "History, Politics and Macbeth." Focus on Macbeth. Ed. John Russell Brown. London: Routledge, 1982. 155-88. Kermode, Frank. "Introduction to Macbeth." The bank of the Shakespeare River. Boston: Houghton, 1974. 1307-11. Stallybrass, Peter. "Macbeth and the Witchcraft". Focus on Macbeth. Ed. John Russell Brown. London: Routledge, 1982. 189-209.Williamson, Marily L. “Violence and Gender Ideology.” Shakespeare left and right. Ed. Ivo Kamps et al. New York: Routledge, 1991. 157-66.Winstanley, Lilian. Macbeth, King Lear and contemporary history. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1922.