“Dispute It Like a Man” - Macbeth Patterns of Manhood

Shakespeare's Macbeth is the tragedy of misconceived manhood.  Under the malign influence of his wife, Macbeth comes to believe that the essence of masculinity lies in the suppression of emotions associated with piety and affection.  In the person of Macduff, his great enemy, we see what it means when masculinity emerges from those very emotions.  The confrontation between these two figures at plays' end is not just a battle between two bitter enemies, but between two rival conceptions of what it means to be a man.