Effects Of Blood In Macbeth

     Despite the use of blood as a good connotation, Shakespeare uses blood to describe other connotations. In many instances, blood is what haunts Macbeth before and after the murder. “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” (II.ii.78-81). No matter if it is a little water or a whole ocean of water, Macbeth feels that no amount of water will clean the blood off his hands. Blood used in this context is sinful and evil. With guilt, he knows that what he has done will never be undone like the blood on his hands. When hallucinating the dagger, Macbeth sees that the blade has “gouts of blood, / Which was not so before. There’s no such thing. / It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes” (II.ii.58-61). The imagery of blood on a sharp knife brings evil connotations and foreshadows the violence and goriness that is anticipated. Macbeth refers to the

The play helps to personify the phrase “Blood is thicker than water,” because Macbeth and Lady Macbeth could never successfully wash away their sins and forget about the past, and this was why they ended up dead (Carramond). Macbeth is ultimately executed and his turning away from good to evil happened once he looked at his hands. His obsession was his ultimate downfall (Jordan). He could never clean the hands so he never tried to. He did what he believed was best for him. His character had become new and was further away from the brave Macbeth (Jordan). Shakespeare once again brings up the blood in Macbeth’s death scene. "Of all men else I have avoided thee but get thee back; my soul is too much charged with blood of thine"(Shakespeare 490). Macbeth refuses to kill Macduff because he would not kill a man who was born by a woman. This gives him the false sense of security that he so willfully stands behind (Carramond). The bloody death is the end of Macbeth.

Everyone deals with guilt at least one time throughout their life, and several authors use guilt to help build up suspense in their story. Guilt in Macbeth not only affects his mental state of mind, but it also destroys him physically, along with a few other characters such as Lady Macbeth. The characters are affected by guilt so much, that it actually leads to their death essentially, just because they were not able to handle the consequences for the events that occurred. Despite being destroyed by guilt, they were still forced to carry on with their lives and they did have to try to hide it, even though Macbeth was not doing so well with that. His hallucinations were giving him up and eventually everyone knew the he had murdered Duncan

Macbeth thinks what he has done is a terrible thing when he looks at his hands, "This is a sorry sight," although he has brought the daggers out with him which scares Lady Macbeth. She tells Macbeth to go back and "smear the sleepy grooms with blood." Macbeth refuses to go because he is so shook up that he only can stare at his hands. He wants his blood that is on his hands which is full of his sickness and his nervousness off, "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / clean from my hand?" Macbeth answers his own question saying that this sickness and nervousness on his hands will not go away but it will make the ocean red with this blood, "No; this my hand will rather / the multitudinous seas incarnadine, / making the green one red." Lady Macbeth return’s to find her husband obsessed with the blood she has a different feeling about the blood in this scene.Lady Macbeth keeps her composer and puts on a façade to the world.

He imagines that all of the water from the ocean could not clean his hands of the burden of guilt that weighed so heavily on his tormented mind. He pictures Duncan’s blood staining the entire ocean red. This passage illustrates that the act of murder has changed Macbeth's character. No longer does the blood suggest an image of ambition; it now symbolizes guilt and remorse. The passage also shows how no amount of water could clean Macbeth’s guilty conscience. Again, blood is referred to when Malcolm and Donalbain are discussing what to do. Malcolm says: "there's daggers in men's smiles: the nearer in blood,/ the nearer bloody." (II,iii, 139-140), meaning that their closest relatives are likely to kill them. Again, blood is being used to describe treason, murder, and

Lady Macbeth, unlike her husband, does not show any guilt or sorrow directly after their diabolical act of regicide, until her fevered sleepwalking, where she exposes her guilt using the most blatant example of blood imagery – the whole murder, in detail. “Will these hands never be clean? Here’s the smell of blood still.” She can no longer feel that water will simply wash away the blood – and thus, guilt – and it is this thought that drives her to suicide.

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.

Even though the blood is physically not on his hands any longer, the guilt stains his palms like blood. This is how Macbeth the warrior king, transitions to Macbeth the coward. Likewise, Guilt continues to torment the character’s mind and even in sleep, the truth will find a way of coming out.“Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!” (Shakespeare 5.1.25). This shows that Lady Macbeth is still haunted by the guilt of murder and even in her sleep, the blood that continues to stain the character’s paths. The symbolism of Lady Macbeth's dream harkens back to what Macbeth said in Act two about this inescapable sign of guilt upon the character’s hands. Furthermore, this guilt creates a change within the characters and Macbeth’s drive to cover up his crimes will change his character dynamic. Macbeth makes this statement when he finds Lady Macbeth has died, “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying

Macbeth instantly feels remorse over his killing of Duncan as he can only look at his bloody hands and say, “This is a sorry sight” (2.2.21). He sees his evil actions as wrong, although guilt is on the drugged guards as Duncan’s is smeared blood on them, imposing them with false guilt. Lady Macbeth’s guilt comes in sleepwalking as her parts in the murders had “stained” her and that “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh” (5.1.35,36). She couldn’t find relief from any of the murders, especially Macduff’s family’s murder seen as Lady Macbeth alludes to this with, “The Thane of Fife had a wife” (5.1.30).

After Macbeth murders Duncan he stares at the blood on his hands and says, “this is a sorry sight”, showing he instantly regrets his decision. Macbeth continues saying, “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? …" further instilling that no matter what, not even with the power of the gods, would he be able forgive himself. This same reaction eventually reaches Lady Macbeth and troubled she says, “"What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" Even Lady Macbeth’s fierce appearance begins to crumble as she begins to feel more and more guilt for what she has

At this point in the play, the image of blood is undoubtedly becoming more intense as Macbeth is beginning to expedite the prophecy of the witches (I.iii.50-53). Originally, blood referred to murder, and

Blood is typically used as a symbol of death, violence, betrayal and pain in writing, and in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, this motif allows the audience to easily track the characters’ thoughts, feelings and motives. When Macbeth begins his murder spree at the beginning of the play, blood is used to symbolize the guilt he is feeling, and this symbol is developed throughout the play. Through this symbol, the audience can see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change throughout the play and helps the audience better understand the play as a whole. Both the real blood and imagined blood mentioned in the play helps depict the guilt both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel for their horrible actions. Bloodshed and death is a recurring motif found in

Initially, she is a beguiling instigator of murder, and her first reaction to blood displays this nonchalant attitude. She tells Macbeth, “My hands are of your colour, but I shame / To wear a heart so white” (IIii 24). Lady Macbeth effortlessly washes off this blood with water, disregarding the guilt. Lady Macbeth’s second reaction to blood, however, exhibits shock over her husband’s free acts of cruelty. She sees the guards her husband has slain and faints. Covered in blood, the murdered guards underline Macbeth’s malice and cruelty. Therefore, when Lady Macbeth faints at the sight of these symbols, she makes obvious her change from plotting instigator to shocked observer. Blood continues to symbolize guilt, and eventually, just as Macbeth wants to remove blood from his hands, Lady Macbeth wants to cleanse her hands of blood and guilt. She visualizes a spot of blood on her hands and perpetually tries to wash it off. “Out, damned spot! out, I say!” (Vi 72). The stigma of guilt, however, cannot be removed, which reveals Lady Macbeth’s haunting, incurable guilt over the murders during Macbeth’s reign. Lady Macbeth continues in woeful guilt, saying “The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? / What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more / o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with / this starting” (Vi 72). She says her hands will never be clean, indicating that

Treachery, deceit, death, greed, and guilt. All perfect terms to describe William Shakespeare's World-Renowned play, Macbeth. Macbeth contains a copious amount of blood imagery, but not all of the imagery has to mean anything, or have the same exact meaning. Blood is omnipresent literally and figuratively throughout the play. What does blood actually mean in Macbeth? Some say blood represents the Macbeths’ guilt, and some include greed. In Jesus's point of view, blood has a holy and sacred meaning of life, and further support from Cliffnotes.com, “Blood itself — the color, the smell, and importance — is vital to life and shocking to see (“Macbeth”),” and yet that point of view almost has no meaning in Macbeth Shakespeare’s use of blood

In the play Macbeth , William Shakespeare uses blood as a symbol throughout the whole story to show the different emotions and themes within the context of the play. It’s a bit ironic for someone whose name means “the son of life” that he has to take so many lives instead of being a father to the people he was trying to rule. The play refers to blood in three key points to create great imagery in this play, guilt, honor, and family/ancestry are some strong points that this imagery is used.