“Shakespeare’s Macbeth” will show the reader that the bloodshed and violent actions are strong and powerful symbols the lead up to consequences that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will endure. The blood in the play shows the darkness and wickedness that surrounds Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. While the blood that is shed reminds the reader of the effect of distorted power of Macbeth, it also provides the images of the ambition that provokes Macbeth into murderous acts, even the bloody images does not change his evil ways. Macbeth is constantly seeing blood upon his hands that develops into a fixation; his guilt does not stop him from committing violent acts. The blood images shows the brutality of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s wrongs causing a lot of guilt …show more content…
The first image of blood was on the sword of Macbeth after a victorious battle he had fought in, showing his nobleness and bravery. The constant vivid imagery of blood in “Macbeth” by Shakespeare is a more of a symbol than a theme. The blood represents Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt manifesting into what leads them to their insanity. The role of blood in Macbeth evolves throughout the play. The word blood is first used by King Duncan “what bloody man is that?” (1.2.1) King Duncan is referring to Sergeant who is covered in blood from his heroic fighting in battle. Here blood represents strength and valiant acts. Sergeant dramatically talks of a courageous Macbeth in the battle, slaying the enemy from their belly buttons to their throats. Sergeant states Macbeth’s brave acts deserve recognition from the king. King Duncan agrees such a worthy man shall be named Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is in wonder meant that the three witches that appeared before him earlier stated he would become Thane of Cawdor and it came true. Macbeth started to believe the witches words. The witches also said Macbeth would become Thane of Cawdor and soon after King and having this knowledge inflates Macbeth with the desire to rule as King. After hearing the news that he became Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth has his first dream about murdering King Duncan though he realizes it is a fantasy. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,” …show more content…
King Macbeth begins to worry Banquo will suspect Macbeth of killing the king, then King Macbeth orders to have Banquo and his son Fleance killed. Fleance escapes with his life and Banquo is murdered by three trained murders that King Macbeth hired. Later that evening at the castle dinner party King Macbeth has another visionary fit, this time he sees Banquo’s bloody ghost in a seat at the dinner table. The bloody ghost of Banquo is representing King Macbeth’s fear and guilt just like the bloody dagger before Macbeth killed King Duncan. Macbeth’s killing spree keeps going he has Macduff’s family murdered. Macbeth had learned that Macduff is not being loyal to him and is siding with Malcolm to inherit the throne which belongs to him by waging a war against
Shakespeare used the image of blood to portray the central idea of Macbeth, King Duncan’s murder. The crime is foreshadowed in the second scene of the first act. The king shouts, “ What bloody man is that?” (I,ii,1) He is referring to a soldier coming in from battle. The soldier then explains to King Duncan of Macbeth’s heroics in battle. One assumes that Macbeth is bloody just like the soldier. The soldier describes Macbeth in action “Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with bloody execution.” (I,ii,17-18) This line connects Macbeth with killing, and hints at the future.
“This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest…” (77). This quote represents the change of Macbeth throughout the play. The use of blood imagery is used to represent the character development of Macbeth from a noble thane to a murdering tyrant. We first see blood imagery characterizing Macbeth when he is called noble for defeating Norway. Then, the idea of un-washable blood shows that Macbeth’s character will change. When Macbeth begins to experience the blood of others on his own hands, it leads him to ultimately become the “villain” or antagonist of the play. Finally, before the death of Macbeth, blood imagery has been used to characterize Macbeth so much that he is now over confident and seems to be fueled by the idea of it. By examining the use of blood imagery, one can determine that blood represents Macbeth’s character development from an honorable thane to a disrespected tyrant.
A major motif in “Macbeth” is blood. Blood is talked about everywhere in Macbeth. Blood is found when Macbeth kills his own relative, King Duncan, in order to gain power and to become the king himself. After Macbeth carries out Duncan’s murder, he is crowned King of Scotland. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s murderous journey begins, the death toll rises; and with each death, the amount of blood on Macbeth metaphorically and literally increases. Guilt starts to control Macbeth. When King Duncan is killed, Macbeth is convinced that “all great Neptune’s oceans” would not wash the blood clean from his hands. Guilt is eating away at Macbeth, and his desire and ambition for power is what leads to him to carry out many more murders.
Blood is a recurring theme in this play; the theme of blood shows the setting of the play at that time and the different moods and emotions acquired by the characters. This idea of blood in the characters mind reverse from the beginning of the play to the end. Blood traverses the play Macbeth.King Duncan is the first to bring up blood in the play. Scotland at this time is fighting Norway; Macbeth and his best friend, Banquo, lead the Scottish forces to victory. The blood brought up by Duncan shows the honor and the heroic deeds done by Macbeth. "What bloody man is that?" Duncan asked to which Malcolm tells him it is the sergeant who had saved him and fought honorably.
Macbeth feeling this way convinces a pair of men to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. By having Banquo and Fleance murdered, Macbeth believes that it will prevent Banquo's sons from becoming king. Macbeth also hires the murderers to kill Macduff's family. This demonstrates Macbeth's obsession because it indicates that Macbeth values his power over his friends. His obsession with power causes Macbeth to feel guilty and lose his sanity. Macbeth's guilt and loss of sanity is indicated in the hallucinations he experiences. His first hallucination occurs just before killing King Duncan. Macbeth sees "A dagger of the mind, a false creation" (act II, scene I, line 38).
The symbolism of blood prior to, and immediately following Duncan’s murder amplifies the magnitude of Macbeth’s treachery. Following the prophecy of the witches, Macbeth contemplates the possible effects of murdering Duncan in order to gain the crown. Macbeth believes the killing of Duncan will provide "bloody instruction" to Scotland and will in turn "plague th' inventor" (1.7.9-10). This quotation characterizes the murder of Duncan as a bloody deed, therefore amplifying the severity of the crime. Prior to the murder of Duncan, Macbeth hallucinated bloody splotches on his dagger.
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.
Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood in MacBeth to represent treason, guilt, murder and death. These ideas are constant throughout the book. There are many examples of blood representing these three ideas in the book.
Use of Blood Imagery in Macbeth William Shakespeare uses many techniques to liven up the intensity, and the excitement, of his plays. In the play of MacBeth, Shakespeare uses blood imagery to add a sense of fear, guilt, shame, insanity, and anger to the atmosphere. The use of blood imagery allows the audience to vision in their minds the crime scene where Duncan was murdered, as well as the scene where Lady MacBeth tries to cope with the consequences of her actions. The talk and sight of blood has a great impact on the strength and depth of the use of blood imagery. MacBeth’s soliloquy in Act 2 scene 1 gives the reader a description of how Duncan will be murdered.
In the beginning of this play blood resembles honor, bravery, and maybe even victory. Macbeth's blood saturated sword after the war portrays him as a brave hero because of the enemy he killed. He is known as "Brave Macbeth" to everyone including Duncan, the King. His bravery is rewarded by the title of Thane of Cawdor, with the help of the current one being executed for treason. I feel that the word blood at the beginning of this play earns Macbeth’s respect from not only the characters, but also the audience.
The image of blood plays an important role throughout Macbeth. Blood represents the murders that Macbeth had committed, the guilt that went along with the murders and the pain that it brought on him during his downfall. The soldier describes the violence and bloodshed, in the war between Scotland and Norway, "Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds." (I. ii. 43) foreshadows the violent nature of the play filled with murder, guilt and pain. Blood in the murder of King Duncan also plays a major role because it represents Macbeth's guilt as well as his shame for slaying King Duncan. Macbeth observes his blood stained hands and remarks "As they had seen me with these hangman's hands." (II. ii. 28) This reveals his guilt and shame because he is comparing his hands to those of an executioner's. After the murder, Macbeth refuses to return back to the bed chamber of Kind Duncan to smear the blood on the sleeping guards, because he is afraid that the blood will incriminate him further. Lady Macbeth smearing the blood onto the guards represents them trying to rub their guilt off onto the guard. "I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt" (II. ii. 73) but this proves to be ineffective because Macbeth ends up murdering t...
“.blood will have blood.” , Macbeth is a well known book written by Shakespeare. In it, a once loyal soldier to the king of Scotland starts to seek a way for him to get the crown for himself. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the imagery of blood to represent the guilt of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, demonstrating the feeling of guilt has consequences of severe punishments. The imagery of blood shows Lady Macbeth wants to get rid of her guilt.
At the beginning of the play, the bloody captain and Lady Macbeth have very different opinions of what is brave (especially the qualities of bravery that Macbeth either shows or does not show) and both use different images of milk and blood to prove their point. The captain is bleeding because he fought bravely in battle, especially against Malcolm’s (the son of King Duncan of Scotland) “captivity” (I ii 6). His wounds signify his loyalty to Scotland. In his severely wounded state, however, the bloody captain decides to speak about Macbeth’s bravery against the Norwegian invaders and especially the rebel leader Macdonwald to the King. Macbeth has been killing so many people that his sword “smoke[s]” (I ii 21), or steams, with blood. These “execution[s]” (I ii 21) foreshadow his many other murders with his “brandished steel” (I ii 20) later on in the play. These executions are not for the good of Scotland, but for his acquiring (and guarding) the title of King of Scotland. Later in Act I, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth telling her about the witches’ prophecy for Macbeth and Banquo, how he was hailed Thane of Cawdor by the witches and would eventually be King. Instantly, Lady Macbeth began plotting as to how Macbeth would go about murdering King Duncan to gain the title. However, she “fear[s]” (I v 15) that Macbeth’s human “nature” (I v 15) is too “milk[y]” ...
One of the first references to blood represents a feeling of honour, and bravery. It is in Act I scene 2 line 1. Duncan says, “What bloody man is that?” when he sees the injured sergeant. Then, from lines 9-33 (The Merciless Macdonwald, etc…) the sergeant tells the story of Macbeth’s heroic victories over Macdonwald and the King of Norway. The telling of this story is, in itself, heroic. It is symbolic of the brave fighter who has been injured in a brutal battle for his country. Due to all the blood he lost, he was weak. Consequently, his blood and heroism seem to make Macbeth look like a hero.
Blood was very evident throughout Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Violence caused blood to drip from the fingers of characters and stain them for the rest of their life. Blood meant various things in the play but it was certainly seen, literally and through hallucinations. Blood in Macbeth is more important when it is imagined by characters but is not actually there because it causes main characters such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to feel more guilty, becomes a reminder of death, and represents violence and murder. The biggest role of blood in the play was becoming a stigma of guilt for characters including Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.