Blood Imagery in Macbeth

Blood Imagery in Macbeth Imagine a war with step to the fore guns, missiles, or bombs. A war with swords, daggers, and arrows. A war with stock, gallons and gallons of kindred flooding the battlefields. Set in eleventh century Anglo-Saxon Scotland, this would be the typical battle scene in Shakespeares bloody tragedy, Macbeth. In Macbeth Shakespeare presents a bloody tale of an age-old struggle for power when Macbeth, the break aways protagonist, and his wife plan to kill Duncan, Scotlands current beloved king, after earreach a prophecy told by three evil witches proclaiming Macbeth to be the new king.The higher Macbeth rises to the thr wiz the deeper he slips into a bottomless pool of the blood of those who dared jump out in his way. Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare uses images of blood as a means of symbolism, using multiple recurrences of blood imaginativeness to promote the primary feelings of fear, honor, and pain (Spurgeon 115). As a symbol blood ultimately covers everythin g Macbeth has touched in many ways both qualitative and quantitative that real blood is un sufficient to do (Mack 53).As the play progresses the symbolism changes and transforms from honor to betrayal and ultimately to guilt and penalise. Macbeth begins as a courageous hero in the midst of battle. A bloody man in King Duncans court tells a story of a bloody battle in which Macbeth fulfills the role of the hero (1. 2. 1). On the verge of bleeding out the Captain manages to paint Macbeths valor despite his blood flooding the Kings court (Character Profile 193). Images of the Captain, a man mortally wounded protecting Duncans son Malcolm in battle, smothered in his own blood gives a symbol of an honorable termination.While the Captain lay dying, he still goes on about Macbeth unseaming an opponent from the nave to th chops, building King Duncans trust in Macbeth (1. 2. 18-23). After the three witches visit Macbeth and Banquo, Macbeth tells his wife, skirt Macbeth, of the promises th e witches mentioned. auditory sense her husbands prophecy to be king, Lady Macbeth begins plotting the murder of the current reigning king, Duncan. She calls upon spirits to make thick her blood and stop the access and rush to remorse, so that she can murder Duncan without regret (1. . 44-45). Wishing her ability to regret her actions to be replaced with direst cruelty leaves Lady Macbeth believing that she and her husband will be able to kill Duncan with no remorse (1. 5. 44). While Macbeth contemplates his wifes treasonous plan, he sees a dagger before him covered in gouts of King Duncans blood (2. 1. 46). The blood and dagger are not real, though Macbeth believes they are, but instead they are a vision that Macbeth sees before the bloody business (2. 1. 48).These blood images convey a symbol of betrayal as well as treason. Murdering Duncan involves Macbeth betraying his trusting cousin and committing treason against Scotland. Immediately after Macbeth kills Duncan, he is rigid with execration at his blood- clouded manpower (Spurgeon 115). The endless red of the blood on his hands is all Macbeth can focus on (Campbell 130). Seeing the blood on his hands begins amplifying the guilt, sending him into shock, forcing Lady Macbeth to smear the grooms with blood (Campbell 130-131).Lady Macbeth plans to shift the light of guilt from her and her husband to the guards who were supposed to keep watch over the noble king. Using Duncans blood to gild the guards faces Lady Macbeth transforms blood into a physical symbol of guilt (2. 2. 55). Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, reports on the scene of Duncans death describing the guards faces to be badged with blood and their daggers unwiped (2. 3. 104-105). Because they are covered in the kings golden blood the alleged murderers are steeped in the colors of their trade (2. 3. 114-117).Bloody stains of the hands and hearts of Macbeth and his wife and the blood that covers the faces and weapons of the guards be adds a physical symbol of guilt. The guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is hidden from others while the guilt of the guards is create on their faces. Macbeth is fully aware that he is totally consumed by the blood of his murderous deeds. He states that his hands are stained with blood from the murder of Duncan. As the play progresses, the guilt of Macbeth multiplies as the amount of blood on his hands continues to grow, becoming a symbol of Macbeths guilt.Each death at the hands of Macbeth causes the stain of red to expand from his hands and spread all over him, from head to foot, symbolizing his growing guilt that becomes more inescapable (McElroy 46). As fourth dimension goes on after the murder, Lady Macbeth begins to slowly unravel into insanity. She is haunted by memories deeply etched in fear (Campbell 131). One of these memories is the scene of Duncans death she recalls the shock of the old to have had so much blood in him as well as the idea that her hands will never be clean (5. 1. 42-43 ).Walking in her sleep, Lady Macbeth finds a spot on her hand that she is unable to wash clean, a symbol of her eternal guilt. Bloody memories push Lady Macbeth into the waiting hands of insanity through the guilt that she feels. Images such as the blood upon her hands, and Duncan bleeding so much blood, feed Lady Macbeths guilt, causation it to continue to grow from guilt to deeply embedded fear, and finally to pure insanity (Campbell 132). With the murderous and wicked deed of the evil tyrant and his wife come plans of revenge and vengeance.Malcolm and Macduff, both having had horrid injustices done unto them, plan to take action to seize the throne from the wicked tyrant, Macbeth. With Malcolms fathers murder and the massacre of Macduffs family, the two men have burning passions for vengeance. In the country near Dunsinane, Scottish nobleman, Mentieth, tells that Malcolm and Macduff are coming to Scotland with Malcolms uncle Siward and the English powers. He explains that reven ge burns in both Malcolm and Macduff and that they come for revenge for Scotland, Duncan, and Macduffs family (5. . 2). The bloody deeds of Macbeth snub Malcolm and Macduff toward their goal of reclaiming Scotland. Malcolm describes the bloody state Macbeth has driven Scotland to as a country that sinks beneath the yoke (4. 3. 39). He claims Scotland weeps, bleeds and each new day a gash / Is added to her wounds (4. 3. 40-41). The personification of Scotland as a living being adds to the imagery of cuts and bloody gashes, upholding Malcolms need to avenge his fathers death and reclaim his fathers throne.The gruesome murder of Macduffs family provided him with the most native of motives for revenge and brought Macduff to the impersonal role of Scotlands avenger (Felperin 104). In the final act of Macbeth blood comes to symbolize a mean for revenge. It is the bloody acts of the evil Macbeth that drive the good men of Scotland to revolt against Macbeths rule, and ultimately in the re claiming of their homeland and the death of Macbeth at the hands of Macduff. The final scenes of Macbeth transform the symbol of blood to one of revenge.It is bloody acts that lead both Malcolm and Macduff to seek revenge against the tyrant along side the noble men of Scotland who wish to regain their homeland. ? Works Cited Campbell, Lily B. Macbeth A teach in Fear. Macbeth. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, Inc. , 1999. 126-135. Print. Character Profile. Macbeth. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia Chelsea House Publisher, 2005. 193-197. Print. Felperin, Howard. A Painted Devil Macbeth. William Shakespeares Macbeth. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 91-112. Print.Mack, Maynard. Literary and Political References in Macbeth. Macbeth. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, Inc. , 1999. 45-57. Print. McElroy, Bernard. Macbeth The Torture of the Mind. Macbeth. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia Chelsea House Publisher, 2005. 27-52. Pri nt. Shakespeare, William, and bucolic Barnet. The Tragedy of Macbeth. New York Signet Classic, 1998. Print. Spurgeon, Caroline F. E.. Shakespeares Imagery Heightens Emotions. Macbeth. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, Inc. , 1999. 107-117. Print. Word Count 1,223