In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare uses blood imagery to develop Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition. Macbeth speaks of blood when he is about to kill someone, or when he has just committed a crime. For the duration of Act One, Macbeth has inner conflict with himself, and argues with Lady Macbeth on whether they should go through with the murder of Duncan. Before Duncan's murder, Macbeth says, “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” (1.7.9-12). Macbeth is visibly nervous and is hesitant to go through with the murder, though he is later convinced by the idea of him becoming King of Scotland. This quote displays Macbeth’s emerging ambition because, though he is hesitant, he still believes that murder is the best course of action, despite the fact he knows it will come back to hurt him in the end. …show more content…
Macbeth is so keen on becoming king, that he is willing to risk everything he has for the throne.
Later in the play, after the ghost of Banquo comes to visit the banquet, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a conversation and Macbeth reveals to her, “I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (3.4.136-138). For a moment, Macbeth grasps that his situation has gotten uncontrollable because of his ever-increasing ambition.. Ambition has taken control of Macbeth, and he believes he is too far gone to come back from all of the bloodshed that has taken place because of his doing. Blood imagery, and the topic of blood plays an important role in The Tragedy of Macbeth, as John Russell Brown explains in Shakespeare: The Tragedies, “A ‘Blood-baltered Banquo’ (IV.i.138) is raised as an apparition by the Witches. Repeatedly, blood is shed on stage or off... Blood permeates the play, as if it had a supernatural power to make its presence felt” (Brown
291). Shakespeare's use of blood imagery is seen all throughout the play. Blood imagery has such a great significance in the dialogue, because of its connection to Macbeth and his rise to power. Because of this connection between Macbeth and blood, as Macbeth gains power, Shakespeare represents Macbeth’s ambition with blood imagery.
“Was the hope [Macbeth’s ambition] drunk. . . And wakes it now, to look so green and pale . . . Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard/ To be the same in thine own act and valor/ As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that ” (1, 7, 35-41). Lady Macbeth would never be able to commit the crime herself because of the role she believes she has as a woman, but she knew her husband could. To make sure he follows through she makes fun of him and uses peer pressure by saying he is just afraid to actually kill Duncan. The blood that will be shed is a symbol of loyalty Macbeth to Lady Macbeth. Even when he killed Macdonwald, it was to prove his loyalty to king Duncan, but Lady Macbeth still does not trust her husband enough. Macbeth starts to act delusional when he sees the ghost of Banquo, but Lady Macbeth tries to reassure the guests to simply ignore him. “Sit worthy friends. My lord is often thus/ And hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep seat . . . If you much note him/ You shall offend him and extend his passion” (3, 4, 53- 57). Lady Macbeth feels more embarrassed by her husband instead of trying to be there for
Use of Blood Imagery in Macbeth William Shakespeare uses many techniques to liven up the intensity, and the excitement, of his plays. In the play of MacBeth, Shakespeare uses blood imagery to add a sense of fear, guilt, shame, insanity, and anger to the atmosphere. The use of blood imagery allows the audience to vision in their minds the crime scene where Duncan was murdered, as well as the scene where Lady MacBeth tries to cope with the consequences of her actions. The talk and sight of blood has a great impact on the strength and depth of the use of blood imagery. MacBeth’s soliloquy in Act 2 scene 1 gives the reader a description of how Duncan will be murdered.
Shakespeare used the image of blood to portray the central idea of Macbeth, King Duncan’s murder. The crime is foreshadowed in the second scene of the first act. The king shouts, “ What bloody man is that?” (I,ii,1) He is referring to a soldier coming in from battle. The soldier then explains to King Duncan of Macbeth’s heroics in battle. One assumes that Macbeth is bloody just like the soldier. The soldier describes Macbeth in action “Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with bloody execution.” (I,ii,17-18) This line connects Macbeth with killing, and hints at the future.
Imagery is the use of symbols to convey an idea or to create a specific atmosphere for the audience. Shakespeare uses imagery in Macbeth often, the most prevalent one, is blood. I believe he uses this as a way to convey guilt, murder, betrayal, treachery and evil, and to symbolize forewarning of events.
Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood in MacBeth to represent treason, guilt, murder and death. These ideas are constant throughout the book. There are many examples of blood representing these three ideas in the book.
out, I say!" When Lady Macbeth thought of Macbeth being king she thought that no one could oppose his power and killing Duncan wouldn’t cause any harm to her. "What need we fear who knows it, what none can call our power to account? —Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?" She although adds that Duncan has a lot of blood and this reminds her of her guilt. This guilt plagues her and she is devastated in her dream when she realizes that, "Here’s the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." Lady Macbeth’s perspective changed at this point on blood and she will later commit suicide.Imagery is a useful tool used by many authors. Shakespeare used "blood" as an image throughout his play to show the emotions and actions of characters as well as the mood for that part of the play. This imagery is useful because it describes the characters
“.blood will have blood.” , Macbeth is a well known book written by Shakespeare. In it, a once loyal soldier to the king of Scotland starts to seek a way for him to get the crown for himself. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the imagery of blood to represent the guilt of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, demonstrating the feeling of guilt has consequences of severe punishments. The imagery of blood shows Lady Macbeth wants to get rid of her guilt.
The symbolism of blood prior to, and immediately following Duncan’s murder amplifies the magnitude of Macbeth’s treachery. Following the prophecy of the witches, Macbeth contemplates the possible effects of murdering Duncan in order to gain the crown. Macbeth believes the killing of Duncan will provide "bloody instruction" to Scotland and will in turn "plague th' inventor" (1.7.9-10). This quotation characterizes the murder of Duncan as a bloody deed, therefore amplifying the severity of the crime. Prior to the murder of Duncan, Macbeth hallucinated bloody splotches on his dagger.
The imagery of blood shows Lady Macbeth wants to get rid of her guilt. Lady Macbeth states, “And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood” (1.5. 49-50). Lady Macbeth is saying that she wants be filled with cruelty from top to bottom and to thicken her blood because of her guilt for a wrong commitment she has made. Lady Macbeth was told that Duncan was coming after being told about the witches prophecies, they were going to fulfill the first one by killing Duncan and Lady Macbeth is asking to be filled with evil to
There are a variety of fluids in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth such as milk, water and blood. Milk quenches one’s thirst, whereas blood pours out of a person. Water is used to wash stains away, whereas blood can taint a person. The blood image is very potent throughout Macbeth and reinforces the major themes of bravery, guilt, and violence evoked by the three witches.
After reading the book Macbeth, we found a lot of motifs from this book. However, there is only one motif that really impressed me--- "blood". As we know, from act 1, Macbeth's mind was directed by his ambition, from that on, his mind did not lead his body anymore. In order to achieve his goal--to be the king. He kept to kill more and more people. So the motif "blood" started to showing up since then.
But he is not talking about the blood he can visually but instead of the blood that has tainted his soul and conscience. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s guilt actually decreases. He begins to commit more and more murders despite feeling incredibly guilt after his first. This shows how Macbeth progresses as a character. Killing for him has become a habit by the last act of the play and blood spilled selfishly, for personal gain, does not matter to him anymore.
The image of blood plays an important role throughout Macbeth. Blood represents the murders that Macbeth had committed, the guilt that went along with the murders and the pain that it brought on him during his downfall. The soldier describes the violence and bloodshed, in the war between Scotland and Norway, "Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds." (I. ii. 43) foreshadows the violent nature of the play filled with murder, guilt and pain. Blood in the murder of King Duncan also plays a major role because it represents Macbeth's guilt as well as his shame for slaying King Duncan. Macbeth observes his blood stained hands and remarks "As they had seen me with these hangman's hands." (II. ii. 28) This reveals his guilt and shame because he is comparing his hands to those of an executioner's. After the murder, Macbeth refuses to return back to the bed chamber of Kind Duncan to smear the blood on the sleeping guards, because he is afraid that the blood will incriminate him further. Lady Macbeth smearing the blood onto the guards represents them trying to rub their guilt off onto the guard. "I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt" (II. ii. 73) but this proves to be ineffective because Macbeth ends up murdering t...
Shakespeare’s playwright shows the betrayal of Macbeth and how his wife Lady Macbeth contributes.. The use of blood imagery in Macbeth shows the character development of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and as they switch personalities.
The scene with Macbeth finding a bloody dagger thinking “ And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood.” (2.1.55) This asserts guilt through the symbolism of blood, that Macbeth imagines blood on the dagger on the grounds that he feels guilty about what he is going to do. When Macbeth orders the murderers to kills his friend Banquo and he returns as a ghost. Macbeth tells that "There’s blood upon thy face". (3.4.16) The blood also symbolizes guilt because Macbeth indirectly kills Banquo and now Macbeth knows that the blood of a person who is murdered will come back to the person who committed the murder. Another scene utilizing blood as a symbol is when Macbeth assumes the throne as king of Scotland and mentions to Banquo about Malcolm and Donalbain fleeing to England and Ireland saying “We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed In England and in Ireland.” (3.1.33-34) The word “bloody” mention by Macbeth portrays how Macbeth wants Banquo to see that the two sons are guilty and fled because they killed their father. The recurring symbol of blood symbolizes guilt from the actions characters that are responsible for a specified wrongdoing.