Masculinity In Macbeth

All three poems are comparable to Macbeth in that the echo the theme of the emotion of love being linked to power in some way and the effect this can have. Throughout Macbeth masculinity is linked to strength which is also be evidenced in the three poems as woman seem to suffer at the hands of men. However, Macbeth is in stark contrast as the early presentation of Lady Macbeth shows that women can be as powerful, cold-hearted and ruthless as men.

Presentations of the emotion of love in Macbeth and the poems are all are examples of how love can soon lead to other emotions, with betrayal being a further ensuing emotion. It could be argued that without Macbeth’s love and affection for his wife she might not have been to able hold such power over him, leading to the betrayal of the King and Banquo.
The emotion of betrayal is also extended to the narrators relationship with her cousin, ‘If you stood where I stand, He’d not have won me with his love’, demonstrating that had there been a reversal of positions, the narrator would not have betrayed her cousin. In Havisham, we know that that the feelings of betrayal arise from Havisham being jilted by her fiancé before her wedding. Although Duffy suggests this ‘hate being a white veil’ and ‘I stabbed at a wedding cake, the writer relies heavily on the audiences previous knowledge of the character from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations’. Again there is evidence of how emotions lead on to others including, jealously, hatred, anger, bitterness, and