Blood Imagery in Macbeth Essay

     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.

“But in these cases we still have judgement here that we but teach bloody instructions which being taught return to plague the inventor,” (I ii 7-10). When Macbeth says these words, it is when we begin to get the full picture of the play and how powerful the image of blood really is. Throughout the play the symbol of blood changes meaning. It starts with blood representing honour and pride for your country and develops into treason and treachery. At the end of the play we see it had blossomed into guilt. Blood is an essential part of life and the same is true in Macbeth.

When faced with the choice to obtain absolute power, most individuals would be tempted to take it. For some, serious actions such as murder may even be committed to acquire this power. Although one’s conscience typically prevents one’s ambition from getting out of hand, in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth’s desire for power is so potent that he eventually loses his sense of morality completely. Throughout the play, multiple characters spill copious amounts of blood all for similar reasons, and as they grow more power hungry they also lose their integrity. Shakespeare uses blood imagery to represent the guilt that stems from immoral actions in order to reveal the destructive nature of unchecked ambition.

Blood is an important part of human society; it helps maintain life, but however is linked to evil actions such as crime or death. Macbeth uses blood as an important symbol used to illustrate the characters feelings and beliefs. One of the primary emotions in the play is guilt. Guilt is a very important emotion throughout the play because it interferes with Macbeth’s morals and ambitions. The audience is able to relate to Macbeth throughout the play because of his guilt, despite the terrible acts that he has committed. Throughout Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the reoccurring imagery of blood is used as a symbol to demonstrate feelings of guilt that is felt by the characters, ultimately leading to their never ending feelings of horror and fear.

Macbeth views the King’s blood as “golden”, his description of the blood proves its importance to him. The King's blood is the most valuable thing to him. Macbeth’s clouded judgement portrays his immense greed and shows how far he will go for power. After obtaining unbelievable power, Macbeth still needs more. Paranoid, he eliminates all who might threaten his rule, including his best friend, Banquo. Not because he is an immediate threat, but rather because his children may one day claim the crown for themselves. Macbeth later comes to terms with his actions; yet, he does not falter or change course. He comments, “In blood/ Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er”

But just like any good story, William Shakespeare doesn't only use the literal meaning of things in Macbeth. Just as blood has literally been in this story, it also symbolises plenty of things throughout the story. For the main characters of the play, Macbeth and his wife, blood symbolises their regret and guilt on their path of continous murder to fulfill their ambition. Following the bloody murder of King Duncan by Macbeth, Macbeth had been emotionally traumitized with guilt over his sefish and cruel act, as like any person with a soul would be like.

Blood is essential to every human beings survival. It is a fluid circulating throughout the body that carries nutrients and oxygen to the tissues in exchange for life and if this was somehow lost then the life would also be lost. It represents life, death, and injury. It is an essential part of life. Without it, we would not live. As a symbol and major theme in Macbeth, Blood is used most often to represent injury and death, but also life. In Macbeth, he uses blood to represents impurity. Shakespeare often accompanies the image of water with the image of blood. The water represents cleansing and purity.

Shakespeare in the book Macbeth shows two ways on how the motif blood is related in scene II. Macbeth show fear and bad mind control by doing the wrong things. He also show respect and honor to his friend, Banquo who had stay loyal to him and that's why he appreciated him. After the king dies, Banquo began to get suspicious about Macbeth been the murdered.

To begin with, Shakespeare has very generously used blood imagery in Macbeth, which helps to develop the theme of guilt. Firstly, Lady Macbeth motivates Macbeth to kill King Duncan, and his hideous crime has stained him in a way that cannot be washed off. The blood imagery used in these lines shows the depth of Macbeth' guilt. He is so guilty that he says that washing his hands in the ocean will not remove the blood from his hands; however, the ocean itself will turn red because there is so much blood. In other words, Macbeth has to live with the guilt that will always make him picture blood on his hands, as they are stained for life. However, Lady Macbeth on the contrary, has no guilty.

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the word blood, appearing 34 times throughout the play, is a very active motif within every act and scene. Macbeth, the main character of the play, is an ambitious war hero who becomes bloodthirsty when he hears the prophecy of him becoming king from the three witches. After he kills the king with the persuasion of his wife, he goes from an admired warrior to a serial killing tyrant. Shakespeare uses blood as a way to convey honor, and heroic acts in the beginning, but this soon turns to guilt, betrayal, and violence.

In the tragedy written by William Shakespeare, the play Macbeth uses the language features symbolism, motif, and dramatic irony to help portray the significant ideas of guilt, appearances versus reality, and ambition. This is shown through the symbol of blood which links to the idea of how guilt has the power to destroy us, the motif light versus dark which links to the idea of how the appearances we see may not be the reality, and the use of dramatic irony which portrays how ambition can lead to us abandoning our morals. The symbolism of blood describes the significant idea that guilt has the power to destroy us emotionally and physically. In act two scene two of this tragedy written by Shakespeare, Macbeth asks, “Will all great Neptune’s

In Shakespeare's Macbeth a play, a man named Macbeth goes through a great transformation; Macbeth goes from being a heroic general in the king's army to an assassin and a tyrant. The theme of the play is never give into evil because it destroys no matter what the benefits are. Blood Imagery is very important in the play; it shows Macbeth's evil ambition in the beginning, middle, and end of the play.

Shakespeare transformed writing as we knew it over 500 years ago. He believed in an interconnected story in which all characters and actions portrayed a deeper meaning. The play Macbeth exemplifies this ideal in countless ways through the use of themes and supporting motifs. Although themes appear throughout, the most impressive is that of betrayal and trust used to expand characters. These characters are depicted around blood through many instances of this theme and this use brings a new layer of depth to Shakespeare’s work.

The book Macbeth by William Shakespeare, is about a man who is forcing himself to be king. Macbeth is doing this by being greedy and doing cruel acts. Much blood was left on his hand but not only was there blood on his hands but many others that did deeds or got the deeds on them. Macbeth killed many and some for many reasons and he changed in such little time. Lady Macbeth was so obnoxious in the beginning that blood was nothing until guilt happened. Banquo,Macduff, malcolm. In the tragedy of Macbeth much blood was shed and much guilt was slow to come but guilt will always come.

“Blood is perceived as being simultaneously pure and impure” (Roux 985). It has both the elements of life and death. It depicts the age old battle of good versus evil. It is both day and night; light and darkness. Blood is shown throughout William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and plays a key role in the building of the story’s conflicts. Blood represents life, but Shakespeare depicts blood in the alternative dark version, showing where there is life there is death and without death there is no life. In Macbeth the main characters are faced with many challenges and struggles. Blood can be seen as the choices or sins that Macbeth and his wife has made; as the play goes on Shakespeare shows how sin stays with the characters and how it consumes many entirely.