Fatefully Empowered: Macbeth and His Ambition

Macbeth, the title character of Shakespeare's tragic play, is arguably one of the most complicated representatives regarding male gender in the history of both literature and theatre. Although his complications arise only partly because of his masculinity, it is imperative that readers examine just what it is that formulates his masculine representation, which, in turn, works to drive him in his struggle for (and against) free will. Macbeth not only denies his masculinity, he denies what should be considered a good in his masculinity through his willful actions.
Yet this will is complicated itself. Aside from being a notable warrior, Macbeth is unfortunately confined to a paradigm in which soldiers (all of whom are male, of course) are praised for [what are essentially] atrocities on the battlefield. This policy, viz. the Elizabethan 'great chain of being,' allows for men to rise in power and therefore distinguish themselves from other, lower-ranking individuals. Yet any philosophy in which men are able to shape themselves to fit into roles of pride fundamentally has a proverbial loophole; to rise in power is to reject the Christian doctrine against idolatry, i.e., God put men on earth as equals, as servants, who should answer only to Him.
Of course, this begs the question of God's existence, which Shakespeare answers insightfully through his conveyance of the three witches, the weird sisters, Macbeth encounters. Because Shakespeare depicts evil manifested in a natural, earthly realm, it is only rational that readers understand a God--an omnipresent, judging, vengeful God-- does indeed exist. Upon meeting the witches, Banquo, who is accompanying Macbeth, notes that the witches are a materialization of earth immediately after they tell Macbeth his fate and disappear. Banquo says, "The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,/ and these are of them" (Act I scene 3, ll. 80-81). This is important not only because Banquo is acknowledging the witches' supernatural powers, but because [in doing so] he therefore acknowledges the natural that is being manipulated.
Of course, the most important aspect of this manipulation is its power over Macbeth's free will. By informing him of his future rise to power, which is a fate that he cannot escape, the witches are actually creating his fate; Macbeth's responsive actions (murder, deceit) only help to mold that fate.
Still, if the witches' information has only a snowball effect on Macbeth's rise to power, it's the proclamation of King Duncan naming Macbeth his heir that instigates the avalanche of treachery in Macbeth. Macbeth fully realizes the means to which he must fulfill his fate, saying,

"The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'er leap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires
Let light not see my black and deep desires"
(Act I scene 4, ll. 50-54).

From here, it becomes even more apparent that Macbeth, in his quest for conformance to the power-role of the male, pursues something evil. Macbeth himself acknowledges it; he understands that in order to overthrow the king he must kill him. However, the characteristics of King Duncan further complicate the matter and, in a dramatic twist, work to contradict the aforementioned Christian idolatry regarding men of power. Because Duncan is a responsible, humble king who is merely doing his duty as a just ruler, it is obvious that he couldn't be further from deserving death.
Ironically, this uncertainty should be the exact reason why Macbeth should abolish any evil thoughts. Instead, Macbeth pushes on in his ambitions-- but not without doubt.
By this point, Macbeth is completely jaded; he is torn between virtue and aspiration. When his wife, Lady Macbeth, sees this, she understands fully how to tap into his deepest nerve. In order to beguile Macbeth, she immediately questions his manhood. She says, "And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man"(Act I sc. 7, ll. 50-51).
Yet this is not the first time Lady Macbeth equates masculinity with violence. In a soliloquy, she says,

Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood [...]
Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall[.](Act I sc. 5, ll. 41-45).

Here it becomes explicitly apparent that Lady Macbeth's aggression towards her husband transcends gender roles. By addressing the symbols of feminine love (breasts, breast-feeding) and adapting them to a destructive scene, she is actually saying that her womanhood is what detracts from her ability to perform violence. Whereas Macbeth is seemingly feminine for what are described as emotional shortcomings, it is Lady Macbeth who, ironically, according to her own rationale "masculine in her abuse of her husband.
Although he is persuaded by his wife, Macbeth remains entirely sure that what he is doing (killing the king) is evil. As he develops as a character, he recognizes that his own ambitions toward power are, in fact, unreliable and unjustifiable. In one of his major soliloquies, Macbeth says,

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly. If th' assassination [...]
Bloody instructions which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th' ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. (Act I scene 7, ll. 1-13).

While the imagery here is very bleak, it should be noted that Macbeth is not only acknowledging his own violent ambition, but that [by pursuing it] he is actually handing himself his own grim fate. While, on one hand, he yearns to fulfill the prophecy he has received regarding a prosperous life, on the other hand, he is ensuring his own damnation. Therefore, it is not merely Macbeth's wavering emotions surrounding his potential evil that, at this point in the story, can possibly redeem him, but rather it is his actual acknowledgement and belief in the evil that has already projected his demise.
From here on in the story, it is nothing but descent. In the madness surrounding his own corruption, Macbeth manages to assassinate all whom potentially stand in the way of his power, and all those below him suffer.
Despite this progression in his own ambitious thirst for power, and the subsequent abandonment of any hope for redemption, Macbeth continues to complicate his characteristics surrounding masculinity; he even adopts his wife's underhanded psychology in order to manipulate others to murder for him. However, Shakespeare knew enough not to leave the issue of masculine virtue represented by the only two characters that initially pervert it. As the story progresses, other characters engage in discussions regarding what it takes to convey a refined masculinity. In scene three of the fourth act, Macduff is informed of the murder of his wife and children, to which he is told, "Dispute it like a man" (Act IV sc. 3, l. 225). Macduff replies, "I shall do so, / But I must also feel it as a man"(Act IV sc. 3, ll. 222-223). This is, by far, the most explicit acknowledgement (in contrast to the aforementioned ironic discussions regarding manhood) of how males in the natural realm should be.
If only Macbeth had reacted properly to the fate he was handed by the witches at the beginning of the story-- acknowledging what he was given, but not letting it stand in the way of virtue-- he would have not suffered and imposed such tragedy. Macbeth simply took it too far; where he could have easily rejected the façade (aggression, violence), he simply played into it. Macbeth knew that being a man, a good man, was more than just blood and daggers, and the repercussions drove him to insanity and, most likely in the realm that Shakespeare creates, to his own private hell.