What Does Blood Symbolize In Macbeth

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Symbolism is often used in literature to provoke deeper meanings in a reader`s mind. Symbolists attempt to capture the inner meaning of objects or ideas (Larson par.1). Shakespeare himself used many symbols in his timeless works. In Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, which is said to be written in the early sixteenth century, blood is one of the primary symbols in the tragedy used to portray a deeper meaning (Macbeth 15). Blood is in fact, one of the most mentioned words in Macbeth, with it being mentioned forty-one times. In Macbeth, blood is an imagery symbol used to represent loss of innocence caused by Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s vile deeds. Macbeth struggles in the play with his loss of innocence. His dynamic character type changes in the play from honorable to evil. In the beginning of the tragedy, he simply cannot grasp hold of the thought of killing his own cousin. Macbeth is still innocent at this point of the play. Macbeth does not feel it is moral or honorable for him, in cold blood, to kill his king. Because the thought of Duncan's murder mortifies him, he dismisses it . Only when his wife convinces him that he is a coward if he does not shed blood, then he reluctantly agrees to go through with the evil …show more content…

Lady Macbeth did not see the consequences her malicious acts would inflict upon her conscience. “Here's the smell of the blood still: all the/ perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh!/ oh!” (5.1.43-45). The blood she commanded her husband to shed haunts the deepest regions of her mind. Lady Macbeth believes “...reality is what you make it; the sleepwalking scene shows reality taking its toll” (Dyson 373). It is not until Lady Macbeth is battling insanity that she perceives even the sweetest things cannot help regain her innocence that was lost. Blood is metaphorically the guilt one must bear after committing heinous

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