major themes and motifs of Macbeth

The fall of a King with a Bloody Past In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the motif Blood, to describe the theme of moral ambiguity. Through a series of prophecies, Macbeth kills and lies his way to being King of Scotland. The theme moral ambiguity is shown when Macbeth is being rewarded for his bad deeds. At the same time the people Macbeth is attacking are being punished for doing the right theme. Moral ambiguity supports the phrases fair is foul, and foul is fair. In the end Macbeth has done everything wrong to become hated by his own soldiers. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses blood to symbolize the path Macbeth and Lady Macbeth travel down to become evil, revengeful, and guilty. Shakespeare uses the imaginary bloody dagger to represent Macbeth’s wavering thoughts toward killing Duncan. Macbeth tries to prove to himself there is no dagger there when he says, “There’s no such thing,/ It is the bloody business which informs/ thus to mine eyes” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, II.I.47-49). Macbeth is under a lot of emotional and moral strain. He knows that there isn’t a real bloody dagger before him, but he is still freaked out at the sight of it. Macbeth’s anxiousness toward killing Duncan clearly shows that he does not feel that it is the right thing to do. When Macbeth kills the King, he knows there is no way to take it back. He is not completely sure if he is willing to forfeit his good morals and become a villain. The murder he is about to commit is making him see the bloody dagger because he is so scared and worried to do it. Macbeth knows he has to kill Duncan when he says, “The bell invites me,/ Hear it or not, Duncan, for it is knell/ That summons thee to heaven or to hell.” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, II.I.62-64). This is Macbeth’s biggest internal conflict within the play. The sound of the bell also symbolizes the death of Scotland and the death of Macbeth’s innocence. Once Macbeth kills Duncan, he starts down the path from good morals to no morals at all. This choice propels him to kill many more people to ensure himself as king. Bloody hands are used be Shakespeare to represent both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt toward killing Duncan. Macbeth shows his guilt after killing Duncan when he says, “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ clean from my hand?” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, II.II.60-61). Macbeth thinks that not even the whole ocean could wash the blood off. His guilt is starting to eat away at him by this point. Macbeth thinks nothing can undo what he has done and he regrets it immediately. Macbeth claims that the blood on his hands is a filthy witness. Macbeth knows that his self-destruction could happen especially when he refers to plucking out his own eyes. His morals are starting to fall along with his clean conscience. Lady Macbeth shows the guilt and remorse she feels when she says, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, V.I.25). Lady Macbeth is starting to feel so guilty about Duncan’s death that she is sleep walking. Her conscience is so troubled that she cannot sleep peacefully anymore. Lady Macbeth is starting to change as a person because she is overcome with guilt. In her mind, her hands are still covered in blood and she cannot do anything about it. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have now swapped character traits. As Macbeth grows his thirst for power and killing, Lady Macbeth becomes mentally weaker and guiltier. She is now the one with clean morals while Macbeth is clearing his mind of any morals left in there. Shakespeare relates blood and revenge by showing the hatred of Macduff and the bloody child in Macbeth’s prophecy. Macbeth is speaking of an old saying, “It will have blood they say. Blood will have blood.”(Shakespeare, Macbeth, III.IV.128). Macbeth is very scared for himself after seeing the ghost of Banquo. He knows that someone will want to take revenge for the bad things he has done and is saying the quote out loud because he finally realizes it. The person Macbeth is most worried about is Macduff. He knows Macduff does not think he is the person that should be king and he is scared of him. He is worried that Banquo’s ghost is a sign that his doom is soon to come. So far Macbeth has been getting rewarded with his crimes against his fellow Scotsmen. The blood he has spilled has given him the throne but at the same time, every time he kills another person, he is killing his own innocence and conscience inside. Macbeth’s cockiness as a king flies through the roof when he hears a bloody baby say, “None of women born shall harm Macbeth.” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, IV.I.82-83). Macbeth has come back to the Weird Sisters and demand that they give him a second prophecy. Macbeth sees a bloody baby appear that basically says any man cannot kill him. Macbeth is overly ecstatic at this news and it fuels him to gain more power. Now that Macbeth knows that no man born from a woman can kill him, he thinks he is invincible. Macbeth’s new level of cockiness has now brought him to an all time lower with his morals. He will do anything to keep getting his fix as a king. Little does he know, but the bloody baby represents Macduff as a baby. He was taken out of his mother’s stomach so he has the ability to kill Macbeth. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses blood to symbolize the path Macbeth and Lady Macbeth travel down to become evil, revengeful, and guilty. In the end Macbeth pays for all of the wrong things he did. The moral ambiguity was shown through all of Macbeth’s horrible actions that pushed him to the top. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth showed their guilt before and after killing Duncan by the blood on the dagger and the blood on their hands. Blood was also a sign of hatred and revenge for those who were against Macbeth’s reign. Macbeth may have gotten to his ultimate goal, but he had to do the worst things possible to achieve his goal. He died a villain in many peoples’ eyes and will be remembered for his terror.