Blood Motiff in William Shakespeare´s Macbeth

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The blotches of blood stains on the once pure soul can never be cleansed. As the illusion of blood seeps through the punctured heart, the guilty conscience accumulates the state of mind that justifies the blood shed by one’s urge to exterminate those whom interfere with their “destined” fate. In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the witches’ prophecies made Macbeth bound to believe that it is plausible, therefore, Macbeth plots a plan executing those who restrain him from his pursuit for power, which ultimately ends in his inevitable death, leaving him scarred with nothing but his guilty conscience. Thus, Shakespeare utilizes the motif of blood to expose the guilt of the characters within the play by metaphorically staining their minds with the burst of blood spilling through their natural state of being, leaving behind a permanent scar of guilt, resulting in the outbreak of insanity.
By committing such a horrendous crime, Macbeth’s shameful heart will endlessly bleed of wounds due to the immense guilt, leaving his sin unjustifiable. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is filled with remorse due to his sinful deed, thus he expressed his guilt saying, “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). With the blood that Macbeth has smeared from his unclean hands, he confides in how not even all the water from the Mediterranean Sea can wash away the fresh blood he has spilled, let alone Neptune, the Roman God of the sea, cannot exculpate the stained blood, but instead, it will diffuse contaminating the whole sea, turning it red. For this reason, Macbeth’s guilt is unjustifiable for even a God canno...

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...consume what is meant to purify their sin, for not even the sweetest perfume can spray away the bloody odor, but rather the bloody scent will consume the sweet aroma, similarly to how the blood that’s been spilled will diffuse, contaminating the whole green sea red symbolizes Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s indestructible guilt that forever haunts them.
As a whole, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s pursuit for power has caused them to bear the bloody crown of guilt that resulted in their inevitable death. From their gory hands that drip blood, to their subconscious guilt that seeks to be divulged, Shakespeare utilizes the motif of blood to expose the guilt of the characters within the play by metaphorically staining their minds with the burst of blood spilling through their natural state of being, leaving behind a permanent scar of guilt, resulting in the outbreak of insanity.

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