Your wife is a happy homemaker and you are an industrious, deeply respected man. No female can override your authority because you are, in essence, the provider. Time elapses, and women begin to join the work force and gain the right to vote. Your value, as a man, has once again shifted, and will certainly continue to do so as the years pass. The meaning of a man is forever evolving, and is therefore difficult to accord a timeless, unchanging definition to. The value of a man is constantly changing in a historical context, just as it does in William Shakespeare's renowned play entitled Macbeth. The reader is introduced to varying, and contradictory definitions as to whom a man should be. In the play, there exists Macbeth who initially defines what a man is, his wife, lady Macbeth, who then introduces her own version, followed by the characterization that Macduff portrays. Throughout Shakespeare's play there is a depiction of an ongoing evolution of what a man is, and various conflicting versions of it.
            
            
             Macbeth is the protagonist of the play who initially establishes the meaning of a man for the reader. He is first mentioned in a wounded captain's account of his battlefield valor. Subsequently, it is assumed that Macbeth is a brave and capable warrior. It may be accurate to state that Macbeth is a dauntless warrior, yet he is lacking in masculinity nonetheless. Subsequent to Macbeth's encounter with the three witches, it becomes evident that his physical courage and ambition are joined by a consuming tendency to self-doubt. Beyond his rugged exterior lies a self-conflicting, deeply confused man. Macbeth is driven by his ambition to reign over his country as king. He has a goal, which with time becomes his unhealthy obsession. He is pressured into committing murder, however unlike the classic villain, Macbeth is incapable of dealing with his guilty conscience. Thus, it can be assumed that Macbeth is in fac...