Use Of Washing Hands In Macbeth

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In act 2 of Macbeth King Duncan is killed by Macbeth. Macbeth realizes that he has only killed Duncan because he wanted to have more power by becoming king, so he couldn't help himself to not kill Duncan. He also feels a little guilty because his wife convinced him to kill duncan. This creates the theme of as humans we all strive for power but if we let our thirst for power overcome us we will hate ourselves. The act finishes with Macbeth discussing with Lady Macbeth that he has finished killing Duncan just like they had planned. She is very excited that Duncan is dead because now they are the king and queen since Malcolm ran off after his Duncan's death, but Macbeth feel guilty because he doesn't like what the power has done to him. Macbeth talks to himself …show more content…

In this scene Macbeth has returned from killing Duncan, and he is alone in his room questioning if he made the right decision. He wonders if he can reconcile for his wrong doings. In this conversation to himself Macbeth he refers to washing his hands. The denotation of “washing” hands is the act of cleaning a person's arm beyond the wrist with water and soap or detergent. The use of washing hands is used to in this case as Macbeth trying to clean his hands from blood. The connotation of washing hands in this situation is Macbeth is trying to get rid of the quilt he has for killing duncan. He also refers to washing the blood from his hands, as he can wash away the blood from his hands, but he knows he can never reconcile for killing Duncan. He knows that he can’t reconcile back from this because Duncan is dead and if he confessed he would be executed. Macbeth also comes to the realization that he despises the decisions he has made, and doesn’t like the murderer of the innocent king that he has become. Furthermore looking into another detail from the quote that illustrates Macbeth being corrupted by his thirst for power resulting in him hating himself is when Macbeth says the “every noise appalls

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