Shakespeare's tragedy of Macbeth is a story of power and distruction.The two main character,Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are driven by ambition to commit evil action.Lady Macbeth, more ambitious at the begining,plots to have her husband perform the act of regicide,murder king Duncan of scotland,so that Macbeth can usurp the throne.However,Macbeth commits more sangunary and gratuitous slaughter to ensure his crown and throne,all the while exacerbate himself in sludge of guilt and suffers smothering paranoia.The guilt that engulfs him and his wife lead to their eventual damnation.Blood appears everywhere throughout the work and attributes symbolism significantly.In the tragedy of Macbeth Shakespeare splayed suspense so splendidly with sinister scenarios and with gory bood imagery which adds to the horror of the play,where'Every act of blood is driven by fear' of some. Shakespeare implements blood imagery in act 1 of Macbeth to create suspense.The opening battle of the play between scotland & the Norwegian invaders uses blood imagery to symbolize honour and bravery,for the blood that is spilled,is the blood of traitor and nor of noble man.--''Show'd like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak--for brave Macbeth,disdaining fortune,with his brandish'd steel,which smok'd with bloody execution''--- and Macbeth character alteration, through ossilation of between thesis and antithesis throughout,the play is characterized by the symbolism in bood sheds.
'Air drawn dagger' that lead Macbeth to commit 'the bloody bussiness',he desires- 'And on thy blade and dadgeon gouts of blood/which was not so before'(act2,sc5,line1)--this obiously reffers to treason,ambition&murder. This is a foil to what blood meant earlier in the play.Blood,once seen as a possgtive value,is now associated with sinister intend of wickedness. After Macbeth butchered Duncan,he begins to imbibe the severity of his sin as he tries to wash the blood off in vain that it stigmatized himself.No longer does the blood connote an image of purity of ambition;it now symbol of guilt,remorse,vengence and an entry into the gates of hell from where none can return,and from Macbeth'hellhound' no escape also for others.Macbeth openly ponders-'will all great Naptune's ocean wash this blood/clean from my hand?No,this hand will rather/the multidudinous seas incarnadine/Makin the green one red'--he's begining to observe the magnitude of his crime is on the verge,point of no return,and decree of destiny. This same blood symbolism recurres in Banquet scene,where havin seen(invisible to others proven it's his mind-made vision,fear out of insecurity to the dreadful vision and also of unfolding of guilt) the murdered ghost of Banquo at the feast,he goes to state of shock &escorted back by Lady Macbeth.We find Macbeth has entered so far into the lees that it is impossible now to escape the outcome,and a return to rightousness is nomore.As he said -'All causes shall give way;I am in blood/stepp'd in so far that;should I wade no more/Returning were as tedious as go over'
Through all these instances of blood symbolism imagery,it is obvious that 'Macbeth is about blood'(k.Muir)and his deeds are a'convultion of Nature'(Caroline Spurgeon)---the sin he has committed have note only perverted his virtuous doppelganger,but have condemned him to an eternity in hell.There is no chance of redemption,he has permanently allied himself with the forces of evil. Thus,on the other hand,the once ambitious Lady Macbeth eventually learn the significance of association herself,in the hinous plot,and the severe repercussion it brings--tormented by the nightmares,she sleepwalks through her bedroom,her hallucinatios of blood on her hands and her constant effort to wash it off demonstrate that agony of having guilty feeling,Nemesis causes her to go insane and she cries'what,will these hands ne'er be clean?'--here's the smell of blood still;all the perfume of/Arabia will not sweeten this little hand' -- we later learn that this truma strains her mind to the point that she ends he life. In the final
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