Motif Of Blood In Macbeth

Lucas Lettie

Presuto

British Literature 5

April 26th 2023 An Eye for an Eye

An eye for an eye, the punishment fits the crime, blood for blood. For hundreds of years these ideas have echoed through society. Within real life crime, jailing, and especially in literature. These phrases ring true for the readers of William Shakespere’s Macbeth, who view this story warning about the consequences of one's own actions. Within William Shakespere’s Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to craft a cautionary tale about Macbeth’s corrupt power and the never ending guilt of Lady Macbeth.

The image and overall perception of Macbeth within the play truly embodies the idea of the phrase absolute power

As the play states, “ For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),/ Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,/ Which smoked with bloody execution,/ Like Valor’s minion, carved out his passage/ Till he faced the slave;” ( 1, 2, 17-22). In this instance, Macbeth's bloodshed and violence is regarded as an act of bravery. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a noble human being and acts almost as the executioner but his morality and social standing changes him. It portrays him as the person, who involves themselves with what society believes as the good of humanity. Under the command of a king, Macbeth doesn’t have that much authority or power. In the event he does someone else’s bidding, there isn’t as much discourse. Society under the king sees him as doing a public service, or compares him to a soldier. This completely contrasts to how Macduff and the rest of the land see Macbeth at the end of the play. As the text proclaims, “ Macbeth)Of all men else I have avoided thee./ But get thee back. /My soul is too much/charged With blood of thine already./ I have no words;/ (Macduff)My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain/ Than terms can give thee out.” (5, 8, 4-10) Here, Macbeth’s

Her dark deeds will haunt her and hang over her head until death. This first begins after Macbeth brings down the knives, “ My hands are of your color, but I shame/ To wear a heart so white./ I hear a knocking/ At the south entry. Retire us to our chamber./ A little water clears us of this deed./ How easy is it, then! Your constancy/ Hath left you unattended” (2,2, 82-87). Lady Macbeth now has metaphorical and physical blood on her hands. Originally, she just knew about the murder of Duncan, but actively assisting Macbeth and encouraging it, makes her just as guilty. Her morals and ethics have now been forever tainted by the crimes that she and Macbeth have done. Her naivety, and ignorance leads her to believe that they will never get caught, and things will get better for them. She thinks that just a little water and a goodnight sleep will wash the blood away. But As she learns, the blood on her hands, and the guilt that follows her never truly goes away. This comes to a climax when she gets caught sleep walking, “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 our power to /account? Yet who would have thought the old man/ to have had so much blood in him?” (5,1,37-42) In this moment, her paranoia