The Food Gift

William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, deals with the issue of manhood in a slightly unconventional way. Instead of presenting a protagonist who conveys the true nature of manhood through his every action and thought, Shakespeare presents his audience with Macbeth, a character who is forced to struggle with the definition of manhood throughout the entire play. In addition to Macbeth, Shakespeare also presents his audience with the varying viewpoints of different men and even women of the play as to what true manhood is. By noting these different perceptions, the reader is able to make general observations about manhood, that it is intricately related to strength, that it can be displayed through feats of courage, and other types of similar observations. However, it is difficult to reach any one conclusion as to how Shakespeare defines manhood in Macbeth. Interestingly enough, it is quite possible that this is Shakespeare’s very intent. Shakespeare challenges his audience to derive their own definition of manhood. By doing this, Shakespeare drives home the point loud and clear: every man must obtain his own conclusion about manhood from within himself. In order to be a true man, it is necessary to follow ones own definition of what manhood is.
Many times, manhood is attributed to the courage of an individual. The reason for this is that courage signifies inner strength through the confrontation of limitations and through surpassing those limitations. True courage, however, can only be defined by that individual himself because only he knows the limitations to his own courage. Courage has many different levels and facets. It is relative to each man; what may be courage to one man may not be to another. The reason for this is because every man has his set of limitations to his courage. Not every man experiences the same fears and confronts the same dangers. The meaning of courage can also change according to different situations. A soldier on the battlefield must