“What, / will these hands ne'er be clean?”(A5.S1.L36-37) Lady Macbeth solemnly exclaims. Can the hands of a murderer ever be clean? Will the guilt ever fade away? These questions linger and haunt the minds of two characters in William Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth. In the beginning, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide to take the throne by murdering the king. 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. Despite these nagging feelings, Macbeth overrides his emotions, primarily because of his wife, and the fear he felt before haunts him after the crime, closely followed by rising guilt. Shaken and frantic, the killers gaze dreadfully at their blood-covered hands shortly after murdering King Duncan. In lines 43-44 of Act 2 scene 2, Lady Macbeth offers a solution to the sinful mess: “Go get some water, and wash this filthy …show more content…
The play’s title, “Tragedy of Macbeth”, refers to Macbeth, who once was a good man, but turned to evil for selfish desire. In the end, that evil, which brought him guilt, literally tortured him to death, and more so to his wife. Confound and entrapped, Macbeth was forced, or so he thought, to continue committing crimes to keep himself and his secrets safe because he killed the king. Act 3 Scene 3, he kills Banquo. Act 4 Scene 2, he kills Macduff’s innocent family. Each of these treacherous deeds added more and more to the blood on his hands, which added more guilt to his