Deeper than blood, what blood is thought to be today is just scratching the surface of the significance of blood in the play Macbeth.
In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, blood is more than just what keeps all of the characters alive, it symbolizes guilt and eventually regret. Macbeth is one of these victims of guilt. His evil heart is pumping all of the regret and guilt through his veins and making him miserable. Three quotes that illustrate the power between blood and guilt are “act II, scene ii lines 60-66”, “act III scene iv lines 122-140”, and “ act V scene i lines 31-36”.
“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.”
In this
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More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good, All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er. Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, Which must be acted ere they may be scanned.” In this section of Macbeth, Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth. In this he says most importantly says that he has stepped so far into the river of blood, it would be just as hard to turn back as it would to keep killing people. He later then says as for crossing this river (killing more people) he has some planes in mind. This paragraph is a bold statement because his vaulting ambition has leaped over his guilt. Macbeth shed his guilt and leaved it in the dust. He decides that he is so far into his planes that he can’t turn back now, he should just carry them …show more content…
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 our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.” In this Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and talking. She talks about how there is still blood on her hands from the murder of Duncan. There is really no blood on her hands! But the guilt of being involved in killing Duncan has got to her and it will never leave. The blood is sticking to her hands in the hallucination, just like the way the guilt is sticking to her heart. Later in the play Lady Macbeth can not take the weight of of the guilt and throws herself off the balcony. The Irony is that she kills Duncan with Macbeth, but in the end, ends up killing herself. This section is also ironic because Lady Macbeth scolded Macbeth about how he was so guilty and how he was not ambitious and should just kill the king, she ended up killing herself because of the