What Does Water Symbolize In Macbeth

ENG3U Macbeth Symbolism Essay The definition of literary symbolism is “...the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.” and William Shakespeare's Macbeth uses symbolism to portray the overarching theme of guilt. The symbols used are Blood, Water, Hallucinations/visions and Clothing and masks. The symbols show guilt in different stages both metaphorically and literally.

While visions and hallucinations has appeared even before Macbeth committed the murder, it comes to prominence after the regicide of King Duncan. Macbeth starts hallucinating after the guilt he receives for meddling with his morals that he carries, that have been ruptured when he murdered King

Water is used to symbolize not only guilt, but the medium to get rid of the guilt. Not only does it represent that, from another perspective water also symbolizes purity and transparency, opposite to blood. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth use water to clean off the blood on them, which can be seen as them using water is a medium to clean off the guilt that they possess, symbolically displaying to Macbeth and lady macbeth water is more than just H2O it is a chance that they are clinging on to to clean off their guilty conscience, which also carry over all the way to Act 5 of Lady Macbeth sleepwalking (5.1.2-), doing the exact same thing as before, using water as something greater, something that they can only hope to make them feel better. However from a different perspective it can be see completely different but still fall under the same theme of guilt. Water is pure, transparent and nourishing. Blood is the opposite, blood is portrayed as dirty, it is opaque and it is not very good to drink. These two opposites portrays how the guilt and all the awful things that comes with a violation of nature like murder comes into contact with us, us being the water and the guilt and bad things being blood. When you mix blood with water pretty much always the blood will overpower the water and make it red, filling up your previous conscience being filled up with only guilt,

Clothing portrays who we are. Our style, our taste, our personality and so on. But it can also be a way to hide our true selves and can deceive by what we wear Masks. Macbeth certainly used clothing to hide something. He used clothing to hide his guilt. Not guilt as in the remorse he felt, but guilt as in the crime he committed. Macbeth chose to hide his guiltiness through dressing up like royalty. Royalty can be conveyed to show different things. Royalty portrays nobility, kind, pure and that was exactly what Macbeth need to hide the fact that he is guilty. Dressing like royalty can also show something else, it shows power, confidence and Macbeth needed that, he need to be a person who nobody could challenge he needed to hide his inner demons, his inner moral battle, his inner guilt. Clothing in this novel portrays not only style and a way for people to know how is who, but it was used to symbolize hiding the truth, to make sure the guiltiness does not come