In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the author uses water as a symbol of power to separate one from his previous actions and their effects, contributing to the overall theme of losing control to ambition. After persuading Macbeth to kill Dunkin, the situation became out of control for lady Macbeth, who intended to have only the king killed, as Macbeth began to massacre whoever was believed to be a potential threat to his crown. Here, the water that she used during her sleepwalk symbolised her wish to “get the blood off her hands”. This is in line with the theme of how ambition gets out of control and eventually led to lady macbeth’s suicide as she can no longer withstand the guilt of indirectly murdering many innocent people. In another scene, Lord Macbeth was found to be channeling with witches in a coherent. Here, Macbeth saw what was said to be signs of his reign ending and was …show more content…
Here, the water in the children symbolises the attempt to stop or reverse a process that is out of one’s control. As can be seen by Macbeth later tries to kill an entire family so that another’s son will not take over the crown. Both of these appearances of water symbolized the same concept, that one attempts to reverse an unwanted effect or process, which is the theme of the play. This contributed to the theme of the destructive power of ambition. Macbeth, who did not initially plan to commit any murder, was almost forced to carry out the plan set by his wife, as her ambition leads her to conclude that it would be the action that would be beneficial. However, as she sees the effect of the ambition she planted in Macbeth, she regretted her decision and wanted to leave