The opening words of the play's second scene, King Duncan asks about a sergeant. "What bloody man is that?" (1. 2. 1). The sergeant then expresses the story of Macbeth's brave triumphs over Macdonwald and the King of Norway. The sergeant’s story is heroic in itself, because Macbeth loss of blood has made him weak. Hence his blood and his heroism seem to augment the image of Macbeth as a hero. The son of Macduff, struggles in the hands of hired murderers, he cries out, "He has kill'd me, mother: / Run away, I pray you!" (4.2.85). The death of the son represent blood also foreshadows of Macduff killing Macbeth. After the killing of King Duncan, As Lady Macbeth's waiting gentlewoman and a doctor observe, the lady is sleepwalking. She scrubs her …show more content…
She continues to "wash" her hands till she is intruded by the memory of summon that she herself called upon her husband to the murder of King Duncan: “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? (5. 1. 35-40). Lady Macbeth thought once that her husband is a king, so it wouldn't trouble who knew that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth assassinated King Duncan, because no one would be able to test Macbeth's power as king. The old man in quote reminds her of her guilt. His blood is chasing her in alternative …show more content…
"I come, Graymalkin. Paddock calls; --anon." (1, 1, 11-12). Graymalkin is another word for cat and Paddock is another word for toad. This display the witches are the ones who have faith in malevolent spirits, and that they have forecasting information. Shakespeare uses a cat as a spirit and the toad represents the witches' ugliness. The sergeant is speaking of Macbeth and Banquo “As sparrows, eagles, or the hare, the lion." (1, 2, 39). Just as an eagle effortlessly overthrows the sparrow or the lion effortlessly defeats the hare, Macbeth and Banquo defeat Macdonwald and King of Norway. It shows how violent Macbeth and Banquo really are same as the lion and the eagle are violent animals. In this quote from Macbeth addressed to Lady Macbeth about Banquo’s ghost "... Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble ..." (3. 4. 123-125). Macbeth says that if any of these ferocious creatures come near him, he would never be frightened, but yet he is afraid of Banquo. Macbeth doesn't want Banquo in any part of his life, that is one of the reasons for killing him. Now that he has come back as a ghost Macbeth is afraid that Banquo will never leave him alone. The use of these violent creatures compared to Banquo shows that Macbeth may have felt guilt for murdering
It is easily seen how Lady Macbeth loses her mind. Jumping from topic to topic, her jumbled thoughts incriminate her. She hallucinates about the return of Duncan's blood, as she cries, "Here's the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh" (V.i.49-51)! It is an irony that her weakness in character (thinness of her blood) cannot bear the strength of guilt brought upon her by the presence of Duncan's blood. This fact proves to be her fatal downfall for it ultimately drives her to suicide.
In his masterpiece Macbeth, William Shakespeare employs many motifs, but none more often than blood and water. The play includes many images of blood and water to show the characters' attitudes toward their own development of guilt. Both motifs mature and change in their meaning along with the setting and mood of the play. “Without an understanding of the blood and water symbolism, the play cannot be completely understood”(Scott 14). Blood symbolizes honor, treachery, and guilt. Water, in contrast, symbolizes cleanliness and purity of the soul, as though all it takes is water to wash guilt away.
This provides a wide contrast as to his reaction to Duncan’s murder when Macbeth would not return to Duncan’s room because he was horrified by what he had done and feared being reminded of it. Macbeth shows no regret and only anger in the failed murder attempt of Banquo’s son. Afterward, Macbeth longs for even more blood to be shed to secure his ambitions. Macbeth continues in killing, saying, “It will have blood they say, blood will have blood” (3.4. 124), to justify his increasing number of murders, for he thinks his conscience cannot be relieved.With each murder, Macbeth becomes more brutal, eventually murdering even the innocent wife and children of Macduff. When a frightened servant comes to tell Macbeth of the approach of ten thousand English soldiers, Macbeth is enraged by the servant's face, which is pale with fear. He tells the servant, “Go prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, / Thou lily-liver'd boy" (5.3.14-15). Macbeth is mocking the servant; he means that the only way the boy can even look courageous is by pricking it to make it bleed. Afterwards, he becomes distracted, talking and giving orders to several people at once, making incoherent commands that show the worsening instability of his mind. As the critic Frank Kermode once stated “ Macbeth loses his distinctive humanity (Thrasher, 77)”. This leads Macbeth to the doom that awaits him for in the end when the only way to rid
William Shakespeare uses different techniques to increase the excitement and intensity in his plays. Macbeth is the dramatic play written by William Shakespeare has many good examples of imagery, especially that of blood. William Shakespeare’s play about Macbeth is a story of ambition and intrigue. The ambition creates actions that lead to the breakdown of the main character and which drove
William Shakespeare enhances his play, Macbeth, by including a variety of motifs. “In a literary work, a motif can be seen as an image, sound, action or other figures that have a symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme,” (Literarydevices.net). In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses sleep, blood, hallucination, darkness and many other motifs to show importance in the play. Beginning with the battle between the Scots and the Norwegian invaders, blood is one of the most significant motifs that are presented in Macbeth. Shakespeare uses blood to symbolize power, courage and heroism as well as, death, cruelty and guilt.
The story illustrates the act of murder has changed Macbeth’s character. But it no longer does the blood connote an image of ambition; it now symbolizes guilt, remorse, and an entry into the gates of hell from which no one can return. Macbeth laments that not even all the water in the sink will wash the blood off his hands, he is beginning to realize the immensity of his crime, and that he has done something truly evil. Macbeth say, “It will have blood,they say. Blood will have blood./ By magot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth/ The secret’st man of blood./ What is the night? (Act III, Scene 4, Lines 122-126). The imagined blood haunts both characters, following them until their death.
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.
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.
This quote depicts Macbeth hallucinating as a result of the stress caused by the murder he is about to commit (the “bloody business”). Originally, Macbeth imagines a dagger floating in the air directly in front of him with drops of blood gradually appearing and covering both the blade and handle. He eventually comes to the realization the dagger is just a figment of his imagination and the thought of killing Duncan is conjuring up these unnerving images. Subsequently, the king’s imminent death, in conjunction with the presence of blood on the dagger clearly illustrates how the image of blood is represented in this quote. By appearing on the dagger itself, blood foreshadows the untimely demise of Duncan, as it will be his blood staining the dagger which took his life. Furthermore, by referring to the murder of Duncan as “bloody business”, the image of blood is once again reinforced, and in addition, it highlights an immoral aspect of Macbeth’s character, as such a savage murder reveals a ruthless side of him which we have only witnessed on the battlefield (I.ii.18-25).
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.
Blood is something that we need to live. So it is clearly understood when Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood to represent murder, betrayal, and death, to show all of the evil that was going on. It is a symbol that was used the most in the play Macbeth, and had different meanings.
In this she may think she is back after the murder, rubbing Duncan’s blood off of her hands. As she continues to rub her her hands, she becomes upset about an imaginary spot that won’t wash away: “Out, damned spot! Out, I say” (V. 1. 35). Lady Macbeth is being driven crazy by this imaginary blood that won’t wash off. Contrary to her original idea that water will wash away the deed, she is finally realizing what she has done and knows that no amount of water can wash away the guilt.
We need to buy the expensive copyright of American Horror Story theme song to represent the motif of blood because the instrumentation creates a grim tone. James S Levine wrote the piece of music in a style that gives the audience an eerie and sinister feeling, which when blood appears in Macbeth it is always connected to blood spilled in the deed of murder. At points in the song the rhythm intensifies, which can resemble the time leading up to a murder and the climax of the song representing the blood spilled as the murder is being committed.
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
Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a story taken from Scottish history and presented to the Scottish king James I. Shakespeare took this gory tale of murderous ambition, however, and transformed it into an imaginative tale of good and evil. Shakespeare brought about this transformation by relying upon “imaginative verbal vigor” that imbeds itself in the brilliantly concentrated phrases of this literary work. Critics have dubbed it his darkest work, along with King Lear. In his critique of Shakespeare’s works and plays, Charles Haines describes Macbeth as “one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays, containing just 2,108 lines.” He further states that it is a vigorous, headlong drama, a relentless spectacle in red and black. (Haines, p. 105) This red and