Motif Of Blood In Macbeth

Blood and Light vs. Dark

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The motif of blood occurs in almost every scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Though, is meaning of blood is blurred and mixed throughout the drama, the representation of blood can be directly related to light and dark, (good and bad). Blood represents a variety of character traits, from guilt to bravery. Every time the word “blood”, or “bloody”, is mentioned, Shakespeare alters the meaning of blood a little bit. In one scene it could show a character's guilt and violent personality, and in the next scene it could represent some courageous and brave characteristics. I’m interested in the way Macbeth does

In the first act, lady macbeth prays to the evils, "make thick my blood; / Stop up the access and passage to remorse" (1.5.43-44). She calls upon the dark and evil to pray that they they thicken her blood, and make her ruthless with no feelings and remorse. Also, thin blood was considered natural and poison made blood think. So Lady Macbeth wanted to poison her soul so she can carry out with the murder of King Duncan. The morning after Macbeth kills Duncan, the sky is unusually dark and the nobleman Ross says to an old man, "Ah, good father, / Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, / Threaten his bloody stage" (2.4.4-6). He says it is obvious the heavens are angry with the murdering of the fine King Duncan. The “stage” is the earth in which humans live on and because of Duncan's death, the stage is bloody. It becomes noteworthy that after every scene that evil happens, say a murder or betrayal, a scene with blood in it

The first example of this is after Macbeth kills Duncan, he exclaims, “Will all great Neptune's oceans this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green red” (2.2.60-63). He is worried that all the water in the world will not be able to wash away the blood from his hands (mentally). Blood is an obvious metaphor for guilt. Another example of a character feeling guilt after committing a sin is Lady Macbeth when she starts to talk in her sleep as a gentlewoman and a doctor watches her, “Out, damned spot! out, I say! / --One: two: why, then, / 'tis time to do't” (5.1.35-40). Lady Macbeth does not show guilt while she is conscious and awake, but it is quite evident that she truly does feel a great amount of guilt after the murder of Duncan. As she screams, “Out damned spot”, she rubs her hands together, showing that she is trying to rub the spots of blood from her hands. A couple lines later Lady Macbeth exclaims again in her sleep, "Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!" (5.1.50-52). She says she can still smell the blood on her guilty hands, and she can not get the smell