What Does Blood Symbolize In Macbeth

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.

Firstly, as a tragedy, the clearest and most effective symbolic factors in the play is the presence of blood. In the beginning of the play, blood is something that represents courage and bravery. People who fight and create blood are regarded as heroes. For instance, in act 1 King Duncan asks about a sergeant, "What bloody man is that?" (I.II.1). The

Blood is often used to represent the essence of life; vital to the being. However, blood shed, especially in Macbeth, is used to symbolize the consequences of unchecked ambition and entitlement-guilt and remorse. Following the murder of Duncan, blood became a physical manifestation of Macbeth’s guilt. The imagery of blood throughout the play becomes more prominent as Macbeth becomes more entangled in his ambition and entitlement. Macbeth exposes the dark side of entitlement, leading to destruction, and depicts how corrupt entitlement can be.

After Macbeth murders the holy King Duncan, a lord named Ross is discussing the aftermath with an old man. He proclaims, “Ah, good father,/Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act,/Threatens his bloody stage” (2.4.6-8). Macbeth killing King Duncan for the selfish purpose of taking his place as king is significant because in doing so, he disrupts the natural order of “the heavens”. This shows the magnitude of his actions, so great that they trigger a form of supernatural chaos in response. The “bloody stage” represents the ground, coated with shame from the bloody deeds that men commit on its land; Shakespeare also alludes to the actors on the “stage” performing Macbeth, who he uses as messengers between his text and the audience in order to transmit his message about humanity. As Macbeth's morality begins to tarnish, Scotland diminishes along with it. The destruction of Scotland is shown again when Macduff and Malcolm converse about Scotland’s plight under Macbeth’s oppressive rule. They characterize the country as “[sinking] beneath the yoke./ It [is] weep[ing], it [is] bleed[ing], and each new day a gash/ Is added to her wounds” (4.3.49-51). The personification of Scotland as “bleeding” conveys that Scotland is wounded by the horrific actions going on in her territory as a result of Macbeth’s ambition. Here, the word “gash” is used to depict how the people of Scotland are receiving gashes, or being murdered. Rather than availing Scotland, Macbeth uses his power to carry out his own ambitious agenda while disregarding the well-being of his own subjects. After Macduff declares that he will avenge everyone who was hurt by Macbeth, he discloses that Scotland suffers from having “an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptered” (4.3.122) and wonders “when shalt

In Act 1, Shakespeare uses the thought of blood to show Macbeth's position on murdering Duncan. After Macbeth and Banquo engage with the witches, they are told a series of events that will take place later in the play. Macbeth is told he will become Thane of Cawdor and soon be king by the witches. He is granted Thane of Cawdor soon after the battle, which leads Macbeth to feed into the witches' prophecies. For the first time, he thinks of the murder of Duncan, which leads to intense fear, and he says, "Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature?

Knowing this, it is not hard to see why blood is such a recurring theme in Macbeth. In fact, the word itself is mentioned over 100 times throughout the text. Upon even the most brief of glances into the story of Macbeth, one will

Macbeth is known to be a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The poem is symbolizing a tragic hero; who desires to gain power through evil deeds. There are many symbols that are being used in Macbeth, that help give a description on the actions, emotions and events that occur during the play. But out of the symbols only three are considered the most important. These are the blood, the contrast of light and dark, and animals.

In the beginning of the play, blood imagery is very important. "Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps, / and fixed his head upon our battlements"(I.ii.22-23). Macbeth has just killed the enemy and become a hero; Macbeth killed the enemy not for fame or fortune but to defend his land and people. In this next quote Macbeth's

In Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, many motifs are used to accentuate many different themes in the text. These themes are used to further the meaning of the play, as well as to give another definition to the characters in it. Macbeth is a highly ranked military general who is very brave and courageous. In the beginning of the play, three witches come to Macbeth and tell him a prophecy, which tells him that he is destined to become king. Macbeth trusts this prophecy and goes on a tyrannical rampage to become king. Blood is one of many motifs that Shakespeare constantly uses to accentuate many ideas which occur in the play. Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes blood in order to demonstrate that even if someone is not caught for an immoral action, the guilt they feel and the liability they experience will still punish them.

Macbeth is the ultimate story of a fight between the forces of good and evil. It tells the tale of a tragic hero whose quest for power leads to his ultimate downfall. Macbeth starts out as an honorable warrior but changes when his ambition becomes uncontrollable. As he becomes increasingly paranoid, Macbeth uses violent means to eliminate threats to his Scottish throne. As the play progresses, blood continuously plays a part in the events as the murders become more frequent. William Shakespeare, the author of Macbeth, uses blood imagery to develop Macbeth’s character, create a foil in between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and to symbolize honor and guilt.

     In the play ‘Macbeth’, Shakespeare uses brutal imagery, with association of blood.  The mood of disgust and horror towards the characters and setting is established by the references to the universal representation of death and pain. The first mention of blood seems to establish a sense of honor. The second mention of blood seems to communicate betrayal.  Lastly the third allusion of blood appears to establish a sense of guilt All of these images of blood help develop the atmosphere and scene and contribute to the over all drama of the play.

Blood reveals Macbeth’s feelings about murder. For example, blood symbolism exposes the apprehensiveness of Macbeth before he kills Duncan . Macbeth hallucinates a dagger floating before him, guiding him towards

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

The Viewers have known blood to all of us to represent life, death and often injury. Blood is an essential part of life and without blood, we could not live. This is known to everyone, and because of this, when Shakespeare uses the imagery of blood to represent treason, guilt, murder and death. The audience have easily understands it and fits it in perfectly with the ideas we have of blood. Blood is the most prominent and seems to be the most important imagery of Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’.

Blood itself—whether it be the color, smell, or simply the sight of it—can spur up some sort of feeling to any individual. Macbeth is a play where blood is constantly repeated in order to get a feeling out of the characters. Anytime blood is present, it gives the sense of a violent atmosphere and so, with blood being used frequently throughout the play, it shows how much the characters were involved in the killing spree; however they would eventually pay the price heavily. In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the reoccurring image of blood is utilized as a symbol to demonstrate the constant feeling of guilt felt by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, ultimately leading to their never-ending feelings of horror. For both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the guilt would eventually consume them until their deaths.