Symbol Of Blood By Lady Macbeth example essay topic

The Symbol Of Blood In Macbeth Blood is something that we need to live. So it is clearly understood when Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood to represent murder, betrayal, and death, to show all of the evil that was going on. It is a symbol that was used the most in the play Macbeth, and had different meanings. 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. In Act 1 scene 5 lines 40-47, the blood changes into a form of betrayal when Lady Macbeth says, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty: make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visiting's of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect of it".

She means that she wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the crime that she is about to commit. The evidence of blood is an evil symbol. Therefore, when Lady Macbeth says in Act 2 scene 2 lines 48-57, "Smear the sleepy grooms with blood, and "If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt", she knows that smearing the blood will shift the guilt from her and Macbeth to the servants. The most vivid example of guilt using the symbol of blood by Lady Macbeth is in Act 5 scene 1 lines 35-40, where she walks in her sleep and tries to rub off the spot of blood on her hand. ("Out damned spot! I say!

One: two: why then 'tis time to do't: hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" ). Her hallucinations of blood on her hands and her constant efforts to wash it off show the agony of having guilty feelings is making her go mentally disturbed. Later on, it strains her so much that she commits suicide.

It is quite a coincidence that she said this, because in Act 2 scene 2 line 67, right after Macbeth murdered Duncan, she says "A little water clears us of this deed". Shakespeare purposely alludes back to the Bible when Jesus was going to be crucified. Pontius Pilate said that he was freed of his blood and washed his hands. Before Duncan's murder, Macbeth imagines that he sees a dagger floating in the air in front of him. ("And on thy blade and dungeon, guts of blood, which was not so before.

There's no such thing: it is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes". (Act 2 scene 1 lines 46-49). The blood imagery here refers to murder, ambition, and betrayal. This is a totally different meaning than earlier in the play. Before, blood was seen as a positive thing. Now, it is associated with evil.

It also shows Macbeth's transformation from a person of honesty, nobility, and bravery to an evil, deceitful person. After Macbeth murders Duncan, he starts to see how severe his crime was and tries to wash Duncan's blood off 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". ) Act 2 scene 2 lines 60-63. This shows that Macbeth's character is starting to get weaker because of his crime.

The blood does not represent a feeling of ambition; it now represents remorse, and guilt. Macbeth is so upset and says that not even all the water in the ocean will wash the blood off his hands. Duncan was a kind generous man and he had no good reasons to kill him. He is now feeling the intensity of what he did, and knows that he has done something truly evil. The archetype that best fits Macbeth is a tyrant.

He is reluctant to kill Duncan, but he will do anything to get the crown. After Macbeth sees the ghost of Banque at his feast, he goes into a state of shock and he needed Lady Macbeth to escort him back to his chamber. Before he goes to sleep, he tells her, "All causes shall give way: I am in blood step'd in so far, that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er: strange things I have in head, that will to hand, which must be acted, ere they may be's cann'd". (Act 3, scene 4, lines 136-140).

Macbeth is basically saying that he has entered so far into into hell, that it is virtually impossible for him to get out, and return to order again. He has to keep killing more and more people if he wants to keep control of his throne. The sins he committed have condemned him to an eternity in hell, with no return. He will forever be associated with the forces of evil. When Macbeth is fighting Macduff in Act 5 scene 5 lines 4-5, he says, "But get thee back, my soul is too much charge'd with blood of thine already". But in lines 6-8, Macduff does not let that stop him from killing him and says, "My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out".

After Macduff killed Macbeth, the blood turns back into a positive aspect of courage, and bravery and order is once again restored. The significance of blood in Macbeth changes frequently from honour to betrayal, to guilt and then back to honour again when Macduff kills Macbeth. Also, the blood was used to represent good and evil. When good people were mentioned like Malcolm or Duncan, it was used it was used for good, to show bravery and heroic deeds. When bad people were mentioned like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it was used for evil things like murder, and betrayal. It gave a good understanding of the character's personalities, and contributed to the richness and excitement of the play.