Literary Analysis Macbeth

Rivera Arkan

Mrs. Favazza

AP Literature and Composition

14 Mar 2022

Macbeth: A Bloody Literary Analysis

William Shakespeare’s 1606 play “Macbeth”, follows the protagonist and tragic hero, Macbeth, through his rise and fall from power. He is easily influenced by the words of the three witches, who tell him he will be king, and he begins his journey for the crown. Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition is what ultimately leads to his drastic actions to secure the throne for himself and attempt to maintain it. Throughout the play, he murders various people with his wife, Lady Macbeth, as an accomplice. The play touches heavily on the topic of guilt, with blood specifically being used as a symbol for guilt. Shakespeare uses blood as a symbol in both

In Act I, when she hears about the witches telling Macbeth he will be king, she enters a soliloquy about changing herself to become less remorseful in order to be strong enough to help Macbeth kill the king. In the soliloquy, she wishes on evil spirits, saying, “Make thick my blood;/ Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,” (Shakespeare I.v.31). This initially makes her seem relatively heartless, going full in on the murder of the beloved king of Scotland and actually pushing Macbeth to go forward with his thoughts. In this case, guilt is represented by blood, but she is actively wishing to not feel guilty. She is presented as rational and very logical in her plan to get Macbeth to become King and guilt does not interfere with that. Her relationship with guilt and her lack of it continues on until the final Act where Lady Macbeth has a jarring interaction with blood. By the beginning of Act V, Lady Macbeth has deteriorated to the point where she is bed bound. She is shocked as Macbeth’s murder spree has spread to Macduff’s wife and children, who were all deemed threats in Macbeth’s eyes. This causes her to fall mentally ill and she must be cared for by a doctor. While she is bedridden, she begins sleepwalking and sleeptalking her guilt for the actions Macbeth has

In Rupert Goold’s adaptation, he stays very close to the original play while still using his own creative liberties. For example, in Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act I, she is depicted essentially the same as she is in the play, saying “Make thick my blood”(3:10-3:20). She seems very powerful and has the demeanor of someone yearning for something, which pairs well with her seemingly guiltess attitude towards planning to kill the king. The eagerness in her tone is evident and it all ties to her speech, wishing to have no remorse for what she wants. This characterizes her how the play does and it is related to blood being symbolic for guilt since she wishes it away and is guiltless. Along with this, in the scene of her sleepwalking she is also very similarly depicted. She is distraught, and as she comes up to a sink, she takes out what appears to be a chemical and pours it on her hands, continuing the hand washing motions (1:10-1:26). This is evidently more intense than what the original play had written since she physically harms herself. Here, the blood is not visible to the audience, just like it is not visible to the other characters. This is not fully showing blood as a visual symbol, but she repeatedly discusses washing her hands from the blood on them, so it still serves its purpose as a symbol. The scene is also very intense and gets the point across. Although the