In The Tragedy of Macbeth, there is much speculation about Macbeth being the villain in his story. Righteously, he is a victim of his circumstances due to the prevalent theme of guilt being a manipulative and destructive emotion throughout the play proven through motifs of visions and hallucinations, blood, and lack of sleep. However, Macbeth by William Shakespeare is arguably one of the most spectacular plays of a tragic hero from the Elizabethan Era of literature. Due to the revival of Latin and Greek dramas in the 1600s, playhouses quickly populated London, prompting the actor Shakespeare to write Macbeth. In the play, Shakespeare writes a twist on the events of a Scottish king from the 11th century and incorporates many thematics into it. …show more content…
For instance, after killing Duncan, Macbeth says, “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” (II.2.60-3). His distraught reaction to the murder and his thinking that nothing will clear his conscience or his hand proves his guilt and remorse for killing Duncan making him a victim, not a villain. Another way the motif of blood represents contrition occurs when Macbeth says, “I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III.4.142–4). Hence, by using the words blood and tentative language Macbeth recognizes that he is far into his wrongdoings. His recognition is a redeemable quality most villains do not possess, and it shows that he is just trying to make the best of his situation to prevent anything worse from happening. Thus showing that he isn’t an absolute villain and feels some remorse for his wrongdoings. To conclude, Shakespeare including the motif of blood signifies impactful guilt in Macbeth and it shows that Macbeth was not a villain due to his remorse and conflicting …show more content…
For example, Macbeth tells his wife, “Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep,” (II.2.35-6) The further notion that guilt is an overwhelming emotion as it argues that Macbeth isn’t a villain because he feels guilt for his actions that night of supposed sleep. And by feeling guilty for his actions, he does not have the same mental capacity as a true villain. Similarly, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (III.4.147) in response to the fit he throws in front of his dinner guests after Banquo’s death. Accordingly, it signifies that Macbeth feels so guilty over his actions that he is losing sleep over it, showing his true emotions on how he feels about everything which opposes the emotions of a traditional villain and objects that Macbeth is entirely one. From another perspective, his lack of sleep could have driven Macbeth into insanity and caused him to commit acts that he would never have if he were lucid instead of sleep deprived. So by guilt being an overpowering emotion Macbeth couldn’t get proper sleep inadvertently causing many of his wrongdoings. Thus, Macbeth cannot be a villain as his lack of sleep throughout the story proves his immense guilt over his actions and how his guilt ruined
The image of blood plays an important role throughout the play. Blood represents the murders Macbeth and Lady Macbeth committed along with the guilt and pain they’ve felt afterwards. When Macbeth murdered King Duncan, he was fearful of getting caught. “Will Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?” (2.2.59-60) Later, Macbeth refuses to go back to the crime scene to smear the blood on the sleeping guards because he was afraid of being accused.
When Shakespeare first introduces Macbeth, he automatically is displayed as a fierce, gruesome general. Blood represents his beneficial doing. Captain quotes, “... with bloody execution... he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops, and fixed his head upon our battlements” (I.ii.20). Macbeth slashes Macdonwald, a traitor, from his belly to his jaw, and decapitates him.
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth see more and more imaginary blood as the time goes on in the play, they feel guilty for what they have done and the blood is a
The first example of this is when Lady Macbeth says that she does not want to feel bad when she murders Duncan. Before they killed Duncan Lady Macbeth already showed that she does not want to feel remorse when she says “Make thick my blood; stop up the access and passage to remorse.” (1.5.42-43). This is significant because it proves that Lady Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is wrong but she does not want to feel remorse because killing him would make her queen and give her power and wealth. Furthermore, after Macbeth kills Duncan Lady Macbeth shows no remorse and tells Macbeth that it is not something to worry about.
Through the eyes of Macbeth, blood is a stain of guilt that one can not remove. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the motif of blood is symbolic of fear, guilt, power and represents the theme, ambition kills. The motif of blood reoccurs continuously in Shakespear’s Macbeth, but does not lose its importance. As the play becomes more somber and gruesome, blood is mentioned more frequently.
He then has a conversation with his wife saying that his “Sleep [is] in the affliction of [his] terrible dreams” (3.2.20-21). The author uses the motif of sleep to represent peace. This time Macbeth’s sleep is disturbed by terrible dreams, meaning that his peace is disrupted by the results of his actions. He even goes as far as to say that Duncan in his grave “sleeps well,” meaning that death is more peaceful than Macbeth’s life (3.2.25-26). Therefore, the author’s usage of the motif of sleep shows that one who is guilty of an immoral act will suffer consequences
Shakespeare uses the blood symbol to express Macbeth’s horror and guilt over his crime. Blood reveals Macbeth’s feelings about murder. Overall, the constant presence of blood in Macbeth repeatedly reminds us about how serious the consequences of the characters actions
As the play nears the end blood plays a less prevalent role in Macbeth’s character to represent that Macbeth’s morality is completely shot. He has nowhere to turn, he has a loss of all feeling, and his life has become completely meaningless. His wife has begun to sleepwalk saying, “What, will these hands neer be clean? Heres the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of / Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (5.1.40, 46-47)
The devices he uses are symbolism and foreshadowing. In the play, blood is represented by guilt. After Macbeth kills the king, he says, “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” (Shakespeare 57).
Closely followed by this treacherous act, they continue these bloody atrocities until it leads to their own deaths. From the perspective of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, blood symbolizes the heavy burden of guilt shown through the many crimes they committed, the high amount of significant references to blood, and the psychological struggles that they faced. Horrendously, Macbeth commits his first murderous crime in the second act. Leading up to this moment, the doubt, fear, and straining pressure offer no mercy to him.
Sleep is one of the purest forms of altered consciousness however, traumatic experiences can impede one’s unconscious thoughts. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan and the guards, grief stricken and afraid. He tells his wife that sleep itself has been murdered and that nobody is immune his treachery (5.1.44). Macbeth’s crime is intensified by the act of murder being done at night and to sleeping rather than awake guards. The moment of guilt that Macbeth felt for his actions represents the hidden innocence behind the crimes.
Macbeth indicates his guilt when he say’s "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?”(2,2,61-62). He’s meaning if he would ever be able to forget about the deed that he has committed of killing the kind of Scotland Duncan. He also is saying that even the entire ocean could wash his hands clean of the blood. Macbeth feels that what he has done was wrong and shameful.
Blood is something most people see as gruesome and disturbing, and not something ordinary people enjoy to be in the presence of. In the play Macbeth, the playwright William Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to expose a character's thoughts and personality. Blood is an important motif constantly shown throughout the play. Macbeth, the main character, thinks he can advance to the throne without any consequences. Blood exemplifies the guilt he is now stuck with, and due to Macbeth's excessive ambition, and overwhelming guilt, he is now faced with the consequences.
At the beginning of the play, blood can often be seen to symbolise strength, heroism and stereotypical masculinity. The Captain describes Macbeth’s efforts on the battlefield with imagery such as “ smoked with bloody execution” to display blood as a war trophy and badge of bravery. Shakespeare’s use of descriptive language such as “smoked” conveys a tone of achievement and grandeur: which in turn implies that the act of murdering men on the battle field is heroic and praiseworthy, as it is displayed in such an impressive manner. However, Shakespeare shows the audience a very different side to Macbeth after the murder of Duncan. Shakespeare displays Macbeth’s overwhelming guilt and remorse in the words “my hand will rather/ the multitudinous seas incarnadine making the green one red” in which Macbeth states that all the oceans of the world could not wash away the blood from his hands and therefore implies that there is nothing on
In the writer 's opinion Macbeth is a good guy and is not capable of the bad things he is doing. He is just getting pressured into doing wrong. For most of the time villains are always evil and are doing wrong without other people making them do it. Macbeth is being convinced to do all of these things and he is not coming up with the ideas on his own. He is a puppet in his own life.