The Symbol of Blood in Macbeth

Theme statement: Blood symbolizes the guilt between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth for all of their unholy murders, causing them to have hallucinations and for LadyMacbeth to become mentally ill.

Quote Sandwich #1

When Macbeth has just killed Duncan and is meeting with LadyMacbeth, he is terrified of the blood on his and will not go back to place the daggers because he can not just simply wash away his sins as Lady Macbeth wants him too. Blood is portrayed as the immortal sins of your mind that you can not get rid of.

Lady Macbeth portrays believe that you can just use a little water to clean your sins. (2.2.86) Lady Macbeth does not know that in killing the king, she will have for the everlasting guilt that she can not clean off her hands. She cannot simply clean the sin from her hands. The detail of using a little water conveys that Lady Macbeth is not aware of the lasting effect it will give her. Shakespear wants the reader to know this because it is a good example of foreshadowing because even though it is easy to forget now, the guilt will add up and overwhelm her mind.

Quote Sandwich #2

After Macbeth hiring assassins to kill his friend Banquo, he knows that he can not change the actions he has committed and must live with it because he is to far gone to turn back. Macbeth is talking to Ladymacbeth about the situation and how there is no way to get out of it. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he is in blood and took himself so astray from his morals that it would be too difficult and tedious as it would to go o’er (3.4.48). For Macbeth, he has this no turning back now attitude for he has converted to being evil and murderous. He is so far over the hedge of good, that he has accepted his role as a villain. The detail of In blood conveys that he is surrounded in his own guilt that somehow returning to the place he used to be in is now more difficult than continuing further on his path of murder. Shakespear wants the reader to see how Macbeth goes from terrible guilt to a sad acceptance of what he has become.

Quote Sandwich #3

At the beginning when Lady Macbeth was the instigator of all of the murders, she changed from being guilt free to being mentally ill from it because she can not wash the blood from her hands. She is starting to have mental hallucinations and night tremors because her subconscious cannot handle all of the stress she has put on herself. Out, Damned spot! Lady Macbeth says trying to wash her clean hands of non-existent blood in her sleep (5.1.72). Her mind is starting to break from guilt. She is becoming mentally unstable and has confessed the murders she has committed in her sleep. The detail of her not being able to clean her hands conveys the guilt she is trying to rid herself of. Shakespeare wants the reader to know that she does not feel remorse of what she did but feels the pain of trying to accept what she has done.

Quote Sandwich #4

When Macbeth was walking toward the chamber to kill King Duncan, he has a feverish hallucination of a bloody dagger because it expresses his guilt over the crime. He sees the daggers and he knows that he sees this because of the thought of murdering someone completely overwhelms him. He grabs the daggers and on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood he goes and kills the king (2.1.21). He is so compelled to act upon his destiny that fate has brought him from the witches that he envisions the weapons covered in the blood of his guilt. His consious mind is so corrupt that he imagines the murder weapons before him. The detail of Dungeon gouts of blood conveys that there is alot of guilt inside of Macbeth for commiting this crime. Shakespear wants the reader to know that the total amount of guilt is unreletting on Macbeths mental state because of the mass amount of blood on the dagger.

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