The Symbolism Of Blood In Macbeth By William Shakespeare

In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, blood is more than just what keeps all of the characters alive, it symbolizes guilt and eventually regret. Macbeth is one of these victims of guilt. His evil heart is pumping all of the regret and guilt through his veins and making him miserable. Three quotes that illustrate the power between blood and guilt are “act II, scene ii lines 60-66”, “act III scene iv lines 122-140”, and “ act V scene i lines 31-36”.

“Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many”. This quote was written by a Roman poet, named Phaedrus around 370 BCE, long before Shakespeare’s time. Thousands of years later, Shakespeare incorporates many deceiving motifs in Macbeth that put the words of Phaedrus into action. The use of ill-fitting clothes, sleep, and bloodshed is all examples of imagery used to illustrate that not everything that looks genuine is so.

Motifs are used vividly throughout Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth to give the reader a greater understanding of the play display a powerful message. To begin the play, Macbeth is displayed as an honorable character , but as time passes, he is influenced immensely by Lady Macbeth, his wife, to do malevolent actions. His actions dictated by Lady Macbeth later causes extreme guilt on him and Lady Macbeth. The blood motif doesn’t appear only physically but comes mentally. Blood illustrates the consequences that comes with of murdering King Duncan. From the beginning to the end of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the frequent use of blood is used to symbolize the constant feelings of guilt felt by the characters, eventually leading to the infinite

Shakespeare uses the recurring symbol of blood to emphasize the effect of death and violence on the human psyche. The connotation that Macbeth associates with blood switches from a primary motivator to a guilty reminder. Prior to Duncan’s murder, Macbeth witnessed a floating dagger covered with blood (II.i.33). Macbeth had experienced violence and Blood is also used as a reminder of the guilt and trauma from the murder of King Duncan, the guards and Banquo. Macbeth refers to his hallucination of the ghost of Banquo: “It will have blood, they say. Blood will have blood. (3.4. ?)” The association of blood to his murderous crimes is used to signify his dirty conscious. Blood is messy and can stain clothes similarly to how the repercussions of Macbeth’s actions have a lasting effect of his conscience. He is experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by reliving the horrors of confronting his actions. By seeing Banquo as a ghost, Macbeth believes that his acts have come to haunt him for revenge. The guests at the dinner party are confused by

Although introduced as a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth’s seemingly unbreakable character shatters when she is consumed by the demon of guilt. The guilt of Lady Macbeth seems nonexistent when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but the heinous acts she and her husband commit throughout the play strain her slowly. Eventually, the guilt Lady Macbeth harbors emerges from her subconscious and crumbles her. The downfall of Lady Macbeth reveals that even the toughest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt.

In Macbeth, blood is a symbol used to represent guilt and how one's guilt will cause them to act with concupiscence. If an individual feels guilty about an action they will do anything to try to make up for that action or clear their conscience. They may cross a line in which they never had thought of crossing before in order to fight their guilt. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth feels guilty about the many murders he has committed and his guilt has turned to paranoia. His paranoia is evident in his conversation with lady Macbeth about banquo when he says, “Come, seeling night, / Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day / And with thy bloody and invisible hand / Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond / Which keeps me pale” (Shakespeare 3.3.52-56). Macbeth's paranoia may cause him to act with concupiscence once again as he feels banquo is a threat and he will do anything to dispense the treat.

After the Macbeth kills Duncan, he has committed his first real murder. Though he has killed before, this is the first time he has ever killed someone he was supposed to be loyal to, the first time morality was not on his side. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is overcome with guilt causing him to lose his sense of what is real, of the real limits and properties of the world around him. To him his king’s blood spills in endless amounts from his hands. ““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.79-81) He sees water, which was once pure like his conscience, now forever polluted by the blood resulting from his evil deed. This image acknowledges that Macbeth knows with killing Duncan there is no coming back from what he has done. This guilt and panic causes him to disconnect with reality and hallucinate infinite amounts of blood.

As the Macbeth’s portray the opposite of social constructs and expectations in the play, they eventually fall into their belonged stereotype after Lady Macbeth slowly starts to spiral downhill. Once Macbeth feels as though someone is in the way of him becoming King, he instantly creates a plan to murder them like Lady Macbeth did with Duncan. As they eventually take up each others common behavior, Lady Macbeth drives herself to insanity due to her womanly feelings. “I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.”, she is seen sleepwalking and participating in strange activities due to the insanity driven from guilt (5.1.4-6). Her feelings of shame and weakness have made her crazy to the point where she has herself doing these things. Not only was she sleepwalking after realizing her mistakes of pushing Macbeth about his manliness too far, she “appears to be washing imagined blood from her hands. Her actions and confused speech greatly concern the doctor.” (5.1.Exposition). After manipulating Macbeth to kill King Duncan and to solve his guilt by washing his hands, she is found compulsively “washing” the “blood” off her hands to rid her own guilt. Although Lady Macbeth is suddenly plagued by guilt, Macbeth has

William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth. It is considered one of its most powerful and darkest tragedies; the play dramatizes the psychological and political corrosive effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to satisfy the ambition for power. Macbeth tells a story of crime and punishment mixed with witchcraft. Covered in the deceitful prophecies of the Weird Sisters, Macbeth decides to assassinate his king and take the crown. Aware of the horror to which he surrenders, he forges his terrible destiny and believing himself invincible and eternal. Throughout the play blood is used as a way to show the evil intentions of not only Macbeth but other characters of the famous play, demonstrating their ambition, anger, and guilt.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby and William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the main women struggle to cope with the circumstances they face in their lives. Both Lady Macbeth and Daisy Buchanan reveal their feelings of disillusionment through the alienation in their relationships, the murders that take place, and through their common desire to be at the top of the social order. Their actions have an impact on others but most importantly have consequences for themselves. This causes difficulty for both women to cope with the circumstances in their lives.

Blood is something most people see as gruesome and disturbing, and not something ordinary people enjoy to be in the presence of. In the play Macbeth, the playwright William Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to expose a character's thoughts and personality. Blood is an important motif constantly shown throughout the play. Macbeth, the main character, thinks he can advance to the throne without any consequences. Blood exemplifies the guilt he is now stuck with, and due to Macbeth's excessive ambition, and overwhelming guilt, he is now faced with the consequences. The guilt that comes from the presence of blood, helps readers develop who Macbeth and Lady Macbeth really are.

Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” explores a man’s fall from morality through committing the act of regicide, as well as ideas of guilt, greed and corruption. A motif of blood is used throughout the play to aid Shakespeare’s character development of Macbeth and it also facilitates further exploration of the figurative moral compass and culpability. Blood is used as a symbol and physical manifestation of guilt within characters throughout the play.

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the symbol of blood is often represented. The symbol of blood changes throughout the play. The imagery of blood is used in two different ways, good and evil. There are several examples of this throughout the play. The symbol of blood is very important in Macbeth. It symbolizes fear, guilt, insanity and also evil. Macbeth would do almost anything to become King. Since the three witches predicted that what was going to be a part of his future. Macbeth and lady Macbeth both became crazy because of the deadly deeds that they committed. In the beginning of the play blood is shown as honor and bravery and towards the end of the play its shown as guilt and remorse.

Darkness can be seen in many literary works with the intention of showing a turn for the worse in many characters lives. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare displays examples of violence in order to show audience members how Macbeth’s desire for kingship, led to his demise through his guilt. The use of blood, nature and supernatural elements are used as a way of symbolizing Shakespeare's theme of Macbeth’s guilt. Is one man’s desire for nobility worth the cost of others lives?

“Looks like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”(Shakespeare 1.7) this truly defines Lady Macbeth and describes her being someone that acts one way in certain situations and then in a contrary manner in others and also shows her manipulative personality and exploits her victims. Lady Macbeth is sharp at convincing and uses people for her need which she does throughout the play. In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is ultimately responsible for Macbeth’s undoing because her ambition supported his greed and provoked his downfall.