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Should one pity Macbeth and Lady Macbeth or praise their death? The play Macbeth by Shakespeare is about a noble man named Macbeth who has a tragic downfall. Macbeth kills the current king, his best friend, and Macduff’s family because he is greedy and yearning to become king; and he is influenced by Lady Macbeth and three witches. In the end, Macduff conquers the tyrant Macbeth and Malcolm, the king’s son, becomes the king of Scotland. Shakespeare uses the motifs of hands, blood, and water, in Macbeth to emphasize the characters cruel nature, yet heighten the sympathy the reader feels for them.

By using the motif of hands Shakespeare emphasizes how violent Macbeth’s actions are and how ashamed he feels. After Macbeth learns that Malcolm shall be the next king he says to himself, “Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires: / The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, / Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (I.iv.50-53). Macbeth is ashamed and petrified of killing the king so he does not want to think about it or see himself committing the crime. The reader sympathizes for him because by not wishing to see it Macbeth shows that he is not an evil man. Yet after Macduff went to England Macbeth says, “from this moment / The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand" (IV.i.146-148). With this Macbeth means he is no longer going to think about the consequences of his actions he is just going to do them. This shows how violent and ruthless Macbeth has become and makes the reader forget about the good deeds Macbeth has done. The motif of hands shows how one may become evil, even though the person is first good.

Using the repetitive motif of blood Shakespeare shows that the guil...

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...be clean?” (V.i.32-40). The murder got to Lady and now she understands that she cannot move past it. One feels pity and compassion for Lady Macbeth because she realizes how her actions were heartless. The motif of water expresses that guilt and regret can never be erased, even when all the evidence of the action is washed away.

The motifs of water, blood, and hands create a big part in the play Macbeth. They symbolize and highlight the regret and brutal attitudes in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Blood, water, and hands are all a part of creating sympathy and pity for them. They can also create regret and guilt in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The motif of blood and hands also point out the inhumanity in both Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeth’s actions. With these motifs Shakespeare shows how even when all the evidence is gone the memories of the deed stay with the person forever.