Significance Of Blood In Macbeth

Blood imagery in Shakespeare’s Macbeth The story of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is about one man who had ambition, persuaded by witches and his wife, to become a king even though it leads him to his downfall. He committed a lot of murders along the way making the motif blood more significant in the story. The definition of blood is “the red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of living things” However in the story of Macbeth, blood represents an entirely different meaning as well as an important theme for the story. In general, blood represents the life & Death itself, which is one of the main themes in the story Macbeth. Blood in Macbeth is mainly used to develop the theme of characters’ guilt as well as madness leading to more violence and bloodshed. Blood is mostly related to the character’s guilt in the story Macbeth. Guilt can be commonly referred to as ‘imaginary blood’ that cannot be washed off. Macbeth and lady Macbeth felt more guilt as they committed more murder. After he killed king Duncan he says, "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?”(II. ii. 77-78). He now feels guilty and asked himself if he could wash the blood (guilt) of his hand. At the beginning of the story, Lady Macbeth was ruthless and she was
At the beginning of the story, it starts out with a war between Scotland and Norway which made Macbeth a hero. After Macbeth heard a witches prophecy, he was determined to kill king Duncan with his own hands. While Macbeth was waiting for Lady Macbeth’s signal, he sees a dagger floating before him. As he kept staring at the dagger, he watches the dagger become covered in imaginary blood. He says, “I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before”(II. i. 57-60). Macbeth was starting to go insane because he was feeling guilty about the murder he is about to commit. However, his ambition kept him