Blood is a biological essential to human survival and health, making it a valuable symbol all through literature and even religion. In William Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth, the imagery of blood is repeated throughout the text as a strong representation of life, strength, death, impurity, and guilt. It is specifically used as a metaphor in this tragedy to help readers, or audience members, understand the unavoidable feelings of guilt Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are experiencing after committing sinful acts of murder in their power-hungry quest for power.
Macbeth is told his prophecy by three witches, who produce that he is to become the king of Scotland. They explain that the downfall of all the possible future kings will be defeated, and
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all he must do is wait for fate to take its course. He takes matters upon his own hands to achieve his destiny quicker, and massacres all that stand in his way with the help of his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth.
With his wife's persuasion, he murders King Duncan, Banquo, one of the generals in the Kings army, Lady Macduff, and Lady Macduff’s son. Through each murder, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become more conscience-stricken, and blood is used as a symbol to illustrate how they cannot rid their conscious of this guilt. After Lady Macbeth helps murder King Duncan, she proclaims “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! Oh! Oh!” (Act 5 Scene 1, 46-47). She cannot remove the smell of the blood, metaphorically meaning she cannot erase the smell of the guilt and shame she feels. She is drowned in the “smell,” or guilt, and explains “all the perfumes of Arabia” could not remove the smell, demonstrating how strong her guilt it. Macbeth feel the same …show more content…
burden when he states “What hands are here! Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/The multitudinous seas incarnadine,/Making the green one red” (Act 2 Scene 2, 59-64). Macbeth uses such unyielding imagery of blood to demonstrate Macbeth's inability to rid his hands of the blood. The changing color of the sea form green to red explains the permanence this guilt will have on his conscience. Blood is a powerful symbol not only in Macbeth, but other forms of literature as well. The symbolism of blood is studied throughout cultures and religions in order to better understand its deeper meaning spiritually and biologically.
Author Dennis J. McCarthy, a student at Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy, has devoted his studies by constructing a series of journals on biblical literature. One of his many journals, titled The Symbolism of Blood and Sacrifice, McCarthy explains how “Blood impresses the imagination. Its loss means weakness and death. It can, therefore, easily be identified with strength”(McCarthy). All throughout Macbeth, the loss of blood represents the end of life for each individual that is murdered. Their blood is then on Macbeth's hands, and each death helps Macbeth get one step closer to being king. Therefore the blood for Macbeth is also a symbol of strength as each death puts him in a higher position of power. However, “Blood also arouses fear and repulsion. It can be a sign of illness and death.” Death is precisely what occurred in this situation. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are repulsed by the blood as well throughout the rest of the text. It is ironic that the same symbol could mean power, strength, and life, but also represent death, illness, and
guilt. Along with literature, religious text also uses blood as a symbol. For example, when the Romans crucified Jesus Christ on the cross, his bloodshed became a symbol all throughout the Bible to symbolize the sacrifice he made for his people. The repetition of blood constant he Bible, when “One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (John 19:34). After his death a soldier pierced Jesus Christ and withdrew blood from his body, just as Macbeth had from King Duncan and Banquo, and any other victims that stood in his path. That blood is on the hands of the Romans who murdered Jesus Christ, as the blood of Macbeths sufferers are on his hands and forever on his conscience. Shakespeare referenced blood, just as it is metaphorically used in the Bible to signify its importance to the feelings of the characters. Blood is reoccurring symbol all through history, literature, and religion. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the repeated imagery of blood is used to symbolize the everlasting feelings of guilt felt by Macbeth and his wife. Religion uses the same symbol to portray the strength of Jesus Christ, and the sins of the Romans for the crucification of Christ. The symbolism of blood emphasizes how intense the feelings of guilt are for the characters and the imagery helps readers, or audience members, realize the extent of these feelings. Blood can represent life, strength, and power, however it can also symbolize illness, weakness, guilt, impurity, and death.
In many contexts, blood symbolizes one’s heroism and power. At the battlegrounds, Duncan notices the approaching sergeant and asks, “What bloody man is that?”(I.ii.1). The use of blood signifies the captain’s bravery through his wounded state. He reports back their victory and symbolizes the violence that took place. This also alludes to Macbeth’s heroic qualities in which he too had fought on the same grounds. Lady Macbeth cries out for courage and strength by saying, “And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood” (I.v.49-50). The use of blood in this context also relates to one’s power using the idea of it being a life source and a vital part to the soul. By thickening her b...
William Shakespeare uses many techniques to liven the intensity, and the excitement in 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.
The image and scent of blood symbolizes the unending guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The blood on their hands represents the inability to annul the murder from their memories. While sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth was aggravated with own hands. She was seen muttering, “Out damned spot! Out, I say!” (V,I,39) This proves that her evil deed in still on her conscience.
Blood is also used to display the guilt in Lady Macbeth near the end of the play. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth is the one who tries to keep Macbeth sane and to keep from breaking.
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.
/Oh, Oh, Oh!” (5.1.46-48) This shows that Lady Macbeth wants to rid herself of guilt, to wipe her hands clean of blood. At the start of the play, Lady Macbeth has an intense desire to become queen and will go to great lengths to become royalty. However, this passionate ambition causes her to conduct wicked deeds, the consequences of which tear her apart from the inside, first by driving her insane, then taking her life. The vision of the dagger encourages the pursuit of ambition, and Lady Macbeth’s suffering demonstrates the deadly results of
The play Macbeth centers on betrayal, war, and justice and as it does, blood plays a very significant role evoking different types of emotion from different characters throughout the play. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seemed the most emotionally moved both mentally and physically, by the sight of blood because they had the most to lose. From the beginning of the play with the killing of Duncan, to the dinner party with the bloody ghost of Banquo haunting Macbeth, to one of the final scenes of Lady Macbeth sleep walking trying to get the blood spots off of her hands, blood is shown all throughout the play symbolizing guilt, murder, revenge, and even suicide.
“.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.
“This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest…” (77). This quote represents the change of Macbeth throughout the play. The use of blood imagery is used to represent the character development of Macbeth from a noble thane to a murdering tyrant. We first see blood imagery characterizing Macbeth when he is called noble for defeating Norway. Then, the idea of un-washable blood shows that Macbeth’s character will change. When Macbeth begins to experience the blood of others on his own hands, it leads him to ultimately become the “villain” or antagonist of the play. Finally, before the death of Macbeth, blood imagery has been used to characterize Macbeth so much that he is now over confident and seems to be fueled by the idea of it. By examining the use of blood imagery, one can determine that blood represents Macbeth’s character development from an honorable thane to a disrespected tyrant.
Due to all the blood he lost, he was weak. Consequently, his blood and heroism seem to make Macbeth look like a hero. In Act 1 scene 5 lines 40-47, the blood changes into a form of betrayal when Lady Macbeth 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, stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effects of it.” She means that she wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless The evidence of blood is an evil symbol. Therefore, when Lady Macbeth says in Act 2 scene 2 lines 48-57, “Smear the sleepy grooms with blood, and “If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt”, she knows that smearing the blood will shift the guilt from her and Macbeth to the servants.
Blood was very evident throughout Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Violence caused blood to drip from the fingers of characters and stain them for the rest of their life. Blood meant various things in the play but it was certainly seen, literally and through hallucinations. Blood in Macbeth is more important when it is imagined by characters but is not actually there because it causes main characters such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to feel more guilty, becomes a reminder of death, and represents violence and murder. The biggest role of blood in the play was becoming a stigma of guilt for characters including Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
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...
Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves. The Weather
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.