Blood is Everywhere - by Matt Dimaria
Blood is everywhere in Macbeth. Blood serves as a dark symbol of the guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to bear, beginning with their slaughter of the royal family and ending with the terrible fate of Macbeth. The guilt penetrates the very depths of their souls and corrodes their minds. They descend into madness and make rash decisions that ultimately lead to their downfall. Lady Macbeth’s downfall occurring when she takes her own life out of the unbearable guilt, and Macbeth being murdered as the tyrant he had become.
After Duncan’s death in the beginning of the play, Macbeth emerges covered in blood. Shakespeare goes into great detail about the blood that is covering Macbeth’s hands. Macbeth says that all the waters of the ocean could not wash his hands clean. Shakespeare chooses to describe the blood in great detail to emphasize the blood as a parallel with the guilt that emerges out of the bloodshed. Macbeth is beginning his suffering when he kills Duncan, he is shaken up badly and he is in constant fear.
The second major bloodshed occurs with the murder of Banquo who was one of Macbeth’s friend and soldier. He kills him because he is a threat to Macbeths rule. The three murderers he hires slay Banquo and report back to Macbeth. They return covered in blood and inform him that they brutally stabbed Banquo twenty times with each gash being enough to kill him. Macbeth is pleased but angry that Fleance escaped. However, right after they leave Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost. This ghost is a figment of Macbeth’s imagination but it represents the guilt that Macbeths is continuing to endure because of Duncan’s and now Banquo’s murder. This guilt is again symbolized by blood because right after bloodshed the guilt sinks in.
Another very important scene is the scene in the beginning of Act 5 in which a doctor and the gentlewoman are following around Lady Macbeth late at night in the castle. She is sleepwalking, something that was very strange back in that time period. Lady Macbeth is wandering the halls of her castle tormented by wretched memories of King Duncan’s murder. She stands there furiously scrubbing her hand attempting to wash the imaginary blood of King Duncan off her hands. She is losing her mind and speaks out about the unbearable guilt she is enduring. She yells out that all the perfume in the world could not hide the smell of the blood on her hands. This is very similar to Macbeth when he said all the water in the world could not wash the blood off his hands. The doctor then cuts in speaking to the gentle woman say that people with guilt and deranged minds often confess terrible things.
After the scene in which Macbeth goes for advice to the witches he becomes reborn with confidence because of their new prophecies. Despite this, he orders the slaughter of the Macduff’s, a sign of his mind digressing and going astray. He no longer thinks clearly for guilt is transforming his mind, thus he begins to act out without good reason. Ultimately out of a false sense of security because of the witches he trusted he is murdered by Macduff he is not of Woman born but rather C- sectioned.
Macbeth is a very bloody play and even though most of the murders are taken place off stage the tone of the play is set by the amount of blood. The blood serves a very crucial part in this play that through bloodshed guilt is often felt. The blood is a symbol of the guilt that so often comes with murder.
After Duncan’s death in the beginning of the play, Macbeth emerges covered in blood. Shakespeare goes into great detail about the blood that is covering Macbeth’s hands. Macbeth says that all the waters of the ocean could not wash his hands clean. Shakespeare chooses to describe the blood in great detail to emphasize the blood as a parallel with the guilt that emerges out of the bloodshed. Macbeth is beginning his suffering when he kills Duncan, he is shaken up badly and he is in constant fear.
The second major bloodshed occurs with the murder of Banquo who was one of Macbeth’s friend and soldier. He kills him because he is a threat to Macbeths rule. The three murderers he hires slay Banquo and report back to Macbeth. They return covered in blood and inform him that they brutally stabbed Banquo twenty times with each gash being enough to kill him. Macbeth is pleased but angry that Fleance escaped. However, right after they leave Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost. This ghost is a figment of Macbeth’s imagination but it represents the guilt that Macbeths is continuing to endure because of Duncan’s and now Banquo’s murder. This guilt is again symbolized by blood because right after bloodshed the guilt sinks in.
Another very important scene is the scene in the beginning of Act 5 in which a doctor and the gentlewoman are following around Lady Macbeth late at night in the castle. She is sleepwalking, something that was very strange back in that time period. Lady Macbeth is wandering the halls of her castle tormented by wretched memories of King Duncan’s murder. She stands there furiously scrubbing her hand attempting to wash the imaginary blood of King Duncan off her hands. She is losing her mind and speaks out about the unbearable guilt she is enduring. She yells out that all the perfume in the world could not hide the smell of the blood on her hands. This is very similar to Macbeth when he said all the water in the world could not wash the blood off his hands. The doctor then cuts in speaking to the gentle woman say that people with guilt and deranged minds often confess terrible things.
After the scene in which Macbeth goes for advice to the witches he becomes reborn with confidence because of their new prophecies. Despite this, he orders the slaughter of the Macduff’s, a sign of his mind digressing and going astray. He no longer thinks clearly for guilt is transforming his mind, thus he begins to act out without good reason. Ultimately out of a false sense of security because of the witches he trusted he is murdered by Macduff he is not of Woman born but rather C- sectioned.
Macbeth is a very bloody play and even though most of the murders are taken place off stage the tone of the play is set by the amount of blood. The blood serves a very crucial part in this play that through bloodshed guilt is often felt. The blood is a symbol of the guilt that so often comes with murder.
