Macbeth: Blood

Macbeth: Blood


     I am going to prove that in the play Macbeth, a symbol of blood is

portrayed often(and with different meanings), and that it is a symbol that is

developed until it is the dominating theme of the play towards the end of it.


     To begin with, I found the word "blood", or different forms of it forty-two

times (ironically, the word fear is used forty-two times), with several other

passages dealing with the symbol.  Perhaps the best way to show how the symbol

of blood changes throughout the play, is to follow the character changes in

Macbeth.  First he is a brave honoured soldier, but as the play progresses, he

becomes a treacherous person who has become identified with death and bloodshed

and shows his guilt in different forms.


     The first reference of blood is one of honour, and occurs when Duncan sees

the injured sergeant and says "What bloody man is that?".  This is symbolic of

the brave fighter who been injured in a valiant battle for his country.  In the

next passage, in which the sergeant says "Which smok'd with bloody execution",

he is referring to Macbeth's braveness in which his sword is covered in the hot

blood of the enemy.


     After these few references to honour, the symbol of blood now changes to

show a theme of treachery and treason.  Lady Macbeth starts this off when she

asks the spirits to "make thick my blood,".  What she is saying by this, is that

she wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the deeds which she is

about to commit.  Lady Macbeth knows that the evidence of blood is a treacherous

symbol, and knows it will deflect the guilt from her and Macbeth to the servants

when she says "smear the sleepy grooms with blood.", and "If he do bleed, I'll

gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt." When Banquo

states "and question this most bloody piece of work," and Ross says "is't known

who did this more than bloody deed?", they are both inquiring as to who

performed the treacherous acts upon Duncan.  When Macbeth is speaking about

Malcolm and Donalbain, he refers to them as "bloody cousins"


      A final way, and perhaps the most vivid use of the symbol blood, is of the

theme of guilt.  First Macbeth hints at his guilt when he says "Will all great

Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?", meaning that he wondered

if he would ever be able to forget the dastardl
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