Evelin Mojica
Mrs. Cillessen
British Literature 10, 3G
8 December 2015
“I abide by the honor code.” EM
Blood
In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the motif of blood plays a major role in the character development within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Blood is a symbol of death and evil within the world that represents the destruction within a family and a relationship. The motif of blood changes Macbeth’s character to a more evil person, and his personality shifts from less prominent to more prominent over his wife. Lady Macbeth starts becoming very crazy, odd, and becomes less dominant over her husband. This is because of the symbolism of blood. She cannot get over all the murders she and her husband have committed. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lose
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their relationship and family line because of the evil they have formed between each other. In Macbeth, Macbeth starts becoming more evil and more prominent over his wife.
Macbeth begins to not care about her anymore, and he begins to gain more authority. This is because of the murders that he has been devising. To kill King Duncan and his son. In Macbeth, “If th’ assassination could trammel up the consequences and catch with his surcease success, that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here but her, upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come. But in these cases we still have judgement here, that we but teach bloody instructions,” (I.IIV). Here Macbeth shows that he is debating whether or not to kill Duncan. When Macbeth says “bloody instructions,” he’s showing how and where he will be committing the murder and he is scared that this murder he is about to do may be repeated to him. This is the beginning of when Macbeth will actually start becoming more evil and violent with the killing of Duncan; thus, beginning a different relationship with his wife. In Macbeth, he says, “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed.” (III.II). Macbeth has become into a more evil and cruel wrongdoer and he asserts his manliness over that of his wife. He now begins to urge into more terrible deeds, and he begins to ignore his fate, and fortune. With each murder success, he starts to become more dominant over Lady Macbeth. Therefore, with Macbeth’s different personality and different attitude toward his partner, Lady Macbeth starts to change
also. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth begins to lose her authority over her husband. She also starts becoming crazy and more evil. She said, “The raven himself is that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements. Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,” (I.V lines 38-44). Lady Macbeth is kind of asking dark magic to give her strength to murder Duncan. Thus, she begins to start acting crazier towards murder and evil. She says, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him,” (V.I lines 37-40). The guilt from the murders Lady Macbeth has committed came to haunt her. She is sleep walking and talking about the act of killing Duncan. She truly goes crazy with guilt. When she says “Out damned spot!” she is referring the terrible deed of murdering Duncan, and she washes her hands repeatedly to remove the “blood,” or really, the guilt. While Lady Macbeth is acting this way, Macbeth does not even seem to care about her. Macbeth continues to have priority over her. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s characters change drastically within the play. Macbeth gaining more superiority, and Lady Macbeth becoming more of a backdrop. Blood has a very important part in Macbeth because it signifies the loss of humanity within the murders Macbeth and Lady Macbeth commit. It also symbolizes the evil and craziness within the household. Blood today signifies evil in the world and also murder and death, similar to blood in Macbeth. Blood in general is just something truly evil and scary.
The longest running tradition in medicine, bloodletting, was a widely accepted practice with a three-thousand year-old history from the ancient Egyptians to the late 19th century. At that time, physicians thought that disease was a curse caused by the supernatural. It was a common idea that blood carried the vital force of the body and was the seat of the soul. Anything from body weaknesses to insanity were attributed to a defect in this vital fluid. Bloodletting was a method for balancing other fluids in the body and cleansing it of impurities. Shakespeare takes the same knowledge of blood and applies it to “Macbeth” in which the connotations not only foretell one’s glory but also one’s guilt.
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.
After the slaughter of his former comrade, Macbeth explains to his wife, “Strange things I have in head that will to hand/Which must be acted ere they may be scanned” (3.4.137-140). This assertion from Macbeth paves the path for his future misdeeds. Lady Macbeth is concerned by her husband’s announcement and responds with, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (3.4.141). Lady Macbeth believes that her husband has lost his sanity. She no longer supports Macbeth’s murderous plans, and resents his new impulsivity. Following this conversation, Macbeth continues to kill harmless people, such as Macduff’s wife and children. He implies that he will no longer think about his actions before completing them, which is a deranged approach to life. The change in Macbeth’s behavior reshapes Lady Macbeth’s personality. She realizes that “what’s done cannot be undone” (5.1.57). Lady Macbeth now recognizes the lasting impact of the murders on herself and her husband. Initially Lady Macbeth approves Duncan’s murder, as it leads to her queenship. Her sadism and zeal for power declines after Macbeth’s killing spree. Lady Macbeth’s newfound heart is the outcome of her husband’s wicked
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the motif of blood plays an important factor in the framework of the theme. A motif is a methodical approach to uncover the true meaning of the play. Macbeth, the main character in the play, thinks he can unjustly advance to the title of king without any variation of his honest self. The blood on Macbeth’s hands illustrates the guilt he must carry after plotting against King Duncan and yearning for his crown.
We start to see Lady Macbeth’s actions have a huge impact on Macbeth’s character as he transforms from a decent being to an overly bitter creature. The cause of his alteration is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is constantly excreting heartless information into his mind. "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?" (I;vii;39-41) "And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I;vii;50-51) Lady Macbeth uses these quotes to push her husband beyond limits and is therefore responsible for his dramatic change in attitude. She is constantly feeding his thoughts with negative comments and later on Macbeth realizes that he has another side to him. As he moves along to discover the concealed side of him, Macbeth falls in love with himself and begins to be drawn towards his evil desires. Because Lady Macbeth was the main cause of his new hidden discovery, she is fully responsible for opening up the door and letting the darkness in. This results in Macbeth committing both murders.
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.
“.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.
... middle of paper ... ... Shakespeare employs the powerful symbol of blood to augment the tragic nature of Macbeth, while dually adding dramatic effect to the play. Blood’s recurring symbolism throughout the play constantly reminds the audience of the Macbeth’s irreconcilable guilt. Blood’s symbolism in the murder of Duncan transforms an act of treachery into a ghastly betrayal.
Lady Macbeth is a very loving wife to Macbeth and she wants to do anything she can for him to achieve his goals. She just takes it a little too far, and she puts too much pressure on Macbeth to commit crimes that he is not sure he wants to do. After Macbeth sends her a letter about the witches’ premonitions, Lady Macbeth is no longer the sweet innocent lady we expect her to be. She turns into a person who is just as ambitious as her husband and she wants to do whatever it takes to help him get Duncan out of the way. She even goes to the point of calling Macbeth a coward, and mocking his bravery when he fails to complete the job. She is even willing to do it herself (plant the bloody knife with the guard). Lady Macbeth is constantly putting the pressure on Macbeth to do things that he is not sure about. She almost turns into a bully who dares Macbeth to go out and do evil things. She even says in a soliloquy that she wants to be released of all her morals and values so that she can help him commit these crimes.
The significance of blood in Macbeth changes frequently from honour to betrayal, to guilt and then back to honour again when Macduff kills Macbeth. Also, the blood was used to represent good and evil. When good people were mentioned like Malcolm or Duncan, it was used it was used for good, to show bravery and heroic deeds. When bad people were mentioned like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it was used for evil things like murder, and betrayal. It gave a good understanding of the character’s personalities, and contributed to the richness and excitement of the play.
In Macbeth, as with all of plays, often are trying to make a point about the human psyche and how different people react differently to different situations. Macbeth, being a tragedy, deals with these ideas, but uses certain techniques to help the audience better sympathise, and to better show Macbeth’s dark descent downwards. Guilt, ambition and the influence of the supernatural all use an array of techniques to help the audience fully understand the concepts and messages Shakespeare was trying to push through this play. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s internal struggle with guilt is further underpinned in the play by the use of various techniques. One such example is the use of symbolism, specifically blood.
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.