Passion In Macbeth Research Paper
Success is often achieved by those who have passions and desires. Everyone always says that having a large amount of passion will only benefit and empower you to your greatest potential. However there’s never any warnings about what an abundance of passion will do to you. Passion is superb, but it'll only be beneficial to a certain degree. In William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Macbeth has an outrageous amount of passion for killing. It first started out as a mere task; to kill the king and be done with it. However this task soon became a goal. He couldn’t stop murdering innocent souls until he was satisfied. Nonetheless these killing sprees soon got the best of not only him, but his wife, Lady Macbeth, as well. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare
demonstrates how Macbeth's unreasonable amount of passion leads him down a path of destruction through the use of symbolism and supernatural elements. Throughout the entire play symbolism is incorporated through the use of blood. Blood is a symbol of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt. Whether it’s being an accomplice or the actual murder, they’re both equally guilty for murdering the innocent. One example is when Macbeth is in a state of shock after killing Duncan. In the text in says, “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 (Act 2.sc 2).” Macbeth knows that his guilt cannot be washed away, even with all the water in the ocean. In the beginning he had great desires to kill Duncan so that he could become king. However after executing the murder, he became horrified at himself. The remorse and guilt he feels after this starts to slowly destroy him, eventually leaving him to rot away in his sin.
Another example of blood being used as a symbol of guilt is when Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking. In the text it says, “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? (Act 5. sc 1)” In this scene, Lady Macbeth is vigorously rubbing her hands together, mimicking the act of washing her hands. As she’s sleepwalking, she’s imagining blood on her hands. Therefore by imitating the act of washing her hands, it’s evident that she was trying to wash and scrub out all of the guilt in her hands. This scene was extremely ironic for in the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth was the one who pressed Macbeth to kill Duncan. Her passion and determination to kill Duncan was greater than Macbeth's, however she was the one who let the guilt destroy her. The overwhelming amount of guilt soon lead to Lady Macbeth’s destruction, which resulted in her committing suicide. As you can see the use of blood was a common symbol of guilt throughout the story, in which it gradually lead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to their own personal downfalls.
demonstrates how Macbeth's unreasonable amount of passion leads him down a path of destruction through the use of symbolism and supernatural elements. Throughout the entire play symbolism is incorporated through the use of blood. Blood is a symbol of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt. Whether it’s being an accomplice or the actual murder, they’re both equally guilty for murdering the innocent. One example is when Macbeth is in a state of shock after killing Duncan. In the text in says, “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 (Act 2.sc 2).” Macbeth knows that his guilt cannot be washed away, even with all the water in the ocean. In the beginning he had great desires to kill Duncan so that he could become king. However after executing the murder, he became horrified at himself. The remorse and guilt he feels after this starts to slowly destroy him, eventually leaving him to rot away in his sin.
Another example of blood being used as a symbol of guilt is when Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking. In the text it says, “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? (Act 5. sc 1)” In this scene, Lady Macbeth is vigorously rubbing her hands together, mimicking the act of washing her hands. As she’s sleepwalking, she’s imagining blood on her hands. Therefore by imitating the act of washing her hands, it’s evident that she was trying to wash and scrub out all of the guilt in her hands. This scene was extremely ironic for in the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth was the one who pressed Macbeth to kill Duncan. Her passion and determination to kill Duncan was greater than Macbeth's, however she was the one who let the guilt destroy her. The overwhelming amount of guilt soon lead to Lady Macbeth’s destruction, which resulted in her committing suicide. As you can see the use of blood was a common symbol of guilt throughout the story, in which it gradually lead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to their own personal downfalls.