Macbeth 2 (Click to select text)

Macbeth In the play Macbeth, a symbol of blood is portrayed often (and with different meanings), and it is a symbol that is developed until it is the commanding theme of the play towards its end. The word "blood," or different forms of it, is mentioned forty-two times, with several other passages dealing with the symbol. To follow the character changes in Macbeth is the best way to show how the symbol of blood changes throughout the play. First he is a brave honored soldier, but as the play advances, he becomes a treasonous person who has become identified with death and bloodshed and shows his guilt in different forms. The first reference to blood is one of glory, and occurs when Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says, "What bloody man is that?" This is symbolic of the chivalrous fighter who been injured in a gallant battle for his country. In the next passage, in which the sergeant says "Which smok'd with bloody execution," he is referring to Macbeth's stalwartness in which his sword is covered in the blood of the enemy. After these few references to honor, the symbol of blood now changes to show a theme of deception and treason. Lady Macbeth starts this off when she asks the spirits to "make thick my blood." What she is saying by this, is that she wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the deeds which she is about to commit. Lady Macbeth knows that the evidence of blood is a treacherous symbol, and knows it will deflect the guilt from her and Macbeth to the servants when she says, "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." When Banquo states "and question this most bloody piece of work," and Ross says "is't known who did this more than bloody deed?" they are both inquiring as to who performed the treacherous acts upon Duncan. When Macbeth is speaking about Malcolm and Donalbain, he refers to them as "bloody cousins." A final way, and perhaps the most vivid use of the symbol blood, is of the theme of guilt. First Macbeth hints at his guilt when he says, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" meaning that he wondered if he would ever be able to forget the dastardly deed that he had committed. Then the ghost of Banquo, gruesome and bloody, comes to haunt Macbeth at the banquet. The sight of apparitions represents his guilt for the murder of Banquo which he planned. Lady Macbeth shows the most vivid example of guilt using the symbol of blood in the scene in which she walks in her sleep. She says, "Out damned spot! Out 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 out power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" This speech represents the fact that she cannot wipe the blood stains of Duncan off of her hands. It is ironic that she says this, because almost immediately following the murder, when Macbeth was feeling ashamed, she said, "A little water clears us of this deed." When the doctor of the castle finds out about this sleepwalking, he tells Macbeth, "As she is troubled with thick-coming fantasies,". What this means, is that Lady Macbeth is having fantasies or dreams that deal with blood. Macbeth knows in his mind that she is having trouble with her guilt, but does not say anything about it. After the death of Macbeth at the hands of Macduff, the symbolic theme of blood swings back to what it was at the beginning of the play. It is the symbol of honor to Malcolm this time. The death of Macbeth is honored feat that Macduff is congratulated for. As has been shown, the meaning of the symbol of blood changes from honor to treachery, and then to guilt. After this, it returns to the symbol of honor once again after the villain that changed the meaning is killed. Due to these many changes, it has been proved that the symbol of blood has many different meanings which can be associated with it throughout the course of this play.