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Blood symbolizes three different attributes in Macbeth. The first is pride and honor such as the victory in the battle between Scotland and Norway. The second is symbol is betrayal, when Macbeth murders king Duncan after Macbeth was just granted the thane of Cawdor. The last is after Lady Macbeth and Macbeth embark on their murderous journey blood becomes a symbol of their guilt, and they begin to feel that the blood has stained them in a way that cannot be washed away.
The first is pride and honor. Blood is everywhere in Macbeth such as in Act 1 scene 2 when the wounded captain described the battle between Scotland and Norway in harrowing terms. “But all’s to weak; for brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution (like valor’s minion), carved out his passage till he faced the slave; which ne’er shook hands nor blade farewell to him till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops and fixed his head upon our battements.” Basically this states Macbeth came out of a bloody and gruesome battle victorious and deserves the title of thane of Cawdor.
Betrayal was the second symbol of blood in Macbeth. When Macbeth was granted the title of thane of Cawdor he and his wife soon became power hungry and thought they deserved to be king. Then came the thoughts of betrayal. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!” “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! A have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to the feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”
After Macbeth murders King Duncan he begins to cry out even as his wife scolds him and tells him that a little water will do the job. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean
The first is pride and honor. Blood is everywhere in Macbeth such as in Act 1 scene 2 when the wounded captain described the battle between Scotland and Norway in harrowing terms. “But all’s to weak; for brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution (like valor’s minion), carved out his passage till he faced the slave; which ne’er shook hands nor blade farewell to him till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops and fixed his head upon our battements.” Basically this states Macbeth came out of a bloody and gruesome battle victorious and deserves the title of thane of Cawdor.
Betrayal was the second symbol of blood in Macbeth. When Macbeth was granted the title of thane of Cawdor he and his wife soon became power hungry and thought they deserved to be king. Then came the thoughts of betrayal. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!” “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! A have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to the feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”
After Macbeth murders King Duncan he begins to cry out even as his wife scolds him and tells him that a little water will do the job. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean