Macbeth

Blood Images found in Macbeth

"For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name- / Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel / Which smok'd with bloody execution, / Like valor's minion carv'd out his passage..." (Act I, Scene 2, Lines 19-21) Blood is symbolic of bravery and courage in this passage. Bloodshed for a noble cause is good blood. However, Macbeth's character changes throughout the play are characterized by the symbolism in the blood he sheds. Before Duncan's murder, Macbeth imagines seeing a dagger floating in the air before him. He describes it, "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not so before. There's no such thing / It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes." The blood imagery in this passage refers to treason, ambition, and murder. This is a contrast the meaning of blood in the beginning of the play. Blood, once seen as a positive value, is now associated with evil. This imagery also shows the beginning of Macbeth's character transformation from a person of nobility, honesty, and bravery to that of treachery, deceit, and evil. In William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the use of blood images serves as a way to represent treason, guilt, murder, and death. Shakespeare's use of blood imagery is significant; he uses it to develop the character of Macbeth and the unfolding events of the drama.

The first reference to blood is in Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 33-61, when he sees the bloody dagger floating in the air before him. In line 46 he sees "on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood", this means that there is blood on the handle. This is implying that the dagger was used on someone. Shakespeare most likely put this in as premonition of murder and death to come later in the story.

The next reference, although indirect, in Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 5-11 is when Lady Macbeth says she will smear the blood from the dagger on the faces and hands of the servants she drugged. In Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 11-12, "I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss them". She is placing the dagger upon the innocent servants of the king, making it appear they committed treason. Also in this scene is the first reference of blood pertaining to guilt. Macbeth says this in Act 2, Scene 3, Line 60, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" This is an example of blood representing guilt, because Macbeth wishes he could wash his guilt away. This passage illustrates the act of murder has changed Macbeth's character. No longer does the blood connote an image of ambition; it now symbolizes guilt and remorse. Macbeth grieves that not even all the water in the ocean will wash the blood