Image Of Blood In Macbeth Essay

Erythrocytes are red blood cells in the human body. In the play Macbeth, most characters are very familiar with erythrocytes. From the first death of the Thane of Cawdor, to the last death of Macbeth, blood is mentioned over one hundred times in the play; therefore, it serves as a major theme. The image of blood represents many different aspects the character’s behavior. In Macbeth, blood represents guilt and Macbeth’s mental breakdown.

First, blood plays a major role by showing guilt. It mainly represents guilt for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. First, the image of blood consumes Macbeth with guilt. To illustrate, Macbeth begins to get second thoughts even before he kills King Duncan. In the moments leading up to his murder of Duncan, Macbeth

begins to imagine a floating dagger that covered in thick red blood from the blade to the handle. This bloody dagger floods Macbeth’s mind with guilt even before he kills his king. Soon after he kills Duncan, Macbeth hears a voice that says, “Sleep no more! Macbeth doth murder sleep” (2.2.46-47). The bloody image of the murder scene is forever in Macbeth’s mind, and the thought will keep him up at night. Next, Macbeth feel guilt through the death of Banquo. To illustrate, while Macbeth is hosting a feast to celebrate his newfound kingdom, he sees the apparition of Banquo. Banquo’s ghost has multiple stab wounds in his head, and his head is matted with blood. Macbeth raises his voice at the ghost and says, “Thou canst not say I did it: never shake thy gory locks at me” (3.4.62-63). So, even though Macbeth did not commit the murder himself, he is still haunted with the guilt of killing his once best friend. Finally, Guilt also torments the mind of Lady Macbeth. For example, Lady Macbeth is desperate to keep her premeditated murders a secret. Although she seems calm and remorseless, the thought of her killings tears away at her consciousness. While she sleeps, she dreams that her hands are covered in blood from the night she framed Duncan’s chamberlains by covering them in the fresh blood of their king. In her sleep walking, she is unable to cleanse herself of the blood and says, “Out, damned spot! Out I say!” (5.1.31). However, just after the murder of Duncan she claims that the murder will be covered up with a little bit of water, but now “in the torture of her hardened heart she complains with groans of anguish that the smell and stain of blood will never wash away” (shakepeare-online.com, Traits of Lady Macbeth).
Not only does blood represent guilt, but it also shows the mental deterioration that Macbeth undergoes throughout the play.

First, in the beginning of the play the imagery of blood shows Macbeth as a noble person. For example, he kills the Thane of Cawdor on the battle field. The soldier telling the story about Macbeth’s heroism is bleeding so much that he has to stop his story before he faints. Second, Macbeth begins to lose his mind after he murders Duncan and Banquo. To show, he starts to hallucinate and sees a dagger and says, “Come, let me clutch thee” (2.1.43). He also claims to see the murdered ghost of Banquo. His hallucinations get worse due to the gruesome murders of his victims and the bloody imagery in his hallucinations. According to “Melancholy, Ecstasy, Phanstasma: The pathologies of Macbeth,” Roychoudhury states, “The morally damning hallucinations of Macbeth—the dripping dagger and spot of blood—represent the mental extrusions of the two guilty protagonists.” The last stage of Macbeth’s mental breakdown is evident in the final scenes of the play. As the woods lead by Malcolm and Macduff march to Dunsinane, Macbeth knows that his death is imminent. Instead of trying to logically win the battle, he goes into the battle field armor less and hungry for blood. To Macbeth, taking a life is much easier now at the end of the play than it was at the beginning of the

play.
In Macbeth, blood represents two things: guilt and Macbeth’s mental breakdown. Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are plagued with bloody images and hallucinations that torment their minds. This leads to them being consumed with guilt to the point that they lose sleep. From the dagger that appears in Macbeth’s, to Macbeth’s bloody head that appears in Macduff’s hand, erythrocytes leave a regrettable feeling in the characters in Macbeth.