Significance Of Blood In Macbeth

In the play Macbeth, Macbeth receives a prophecy from three supernatural witches that he will become king of Scotland. This prophecy ultimately leads to his death after he kills King Duncan and goes insane. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the blood of King Duncan and the imaginary dagger to symbolize the guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to show the theme that ambition leads to guilt when immoral choices are made. One example of how the blood of King Duncan symbolizes guilt is after Macbeth kills the king and thinks he cannot get the blood of his hands. While talking to Lady Macbeth, Macbeth says “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No” (Shakespeare 2.2.61-64). The blood of Duncan serves as a symbol of guilt, a guilt that

cannot be washed away by all of the water in the oceans. His ambition drives him to kill the king which leads him to feel guilt which sticks with him throughout the play until his death.

Another example of how King Duncan’s blood is a symbol of guilt is when Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking. A doctor and a gentlewoman are observing Lady Macbeth while she is sleepwalking when she says “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” (Shakespeare 5.1.25-28). The blood she sees symbolizes her guilt for her role in killing Duncan. Earlier in the play, she said, “A little water clears us of this deed” (Shakespeare 2.2.67). Since she now feels guilty for killing the blood will not come off her hands. Her ambition to be queen pushed her to make her husband kill King Duncan. For this reason, she feels guilty and this guilt will lead to her death. A different symbol of guilt is the imaginary dagger that Macbeth sees. Before he kills Duncan he talks to the dagger and says “Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going, / And such an instrument I was to use. /And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, ” (Shakespeare 2.1.43-48). The dagger represents his guilty conscience. His mind is trying to show him what he is about to do and turn him away from the path of immoral decisions and

greed. He is in this situation because of his ambition and his wife pushing him. This starts him down the path of guilt and insanity. Overall the blood on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s hands and the imaginary dagger serve as symbols for the guilt they feel. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses Duncan’s blood and the vision of a dagger to symbolize Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt have to show the theme that ambition leads to guilt when immoral choices are made.