Preview

Symbolism In Macbeth

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1443 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Symbolism In Macbeth
Symbolisms in Macbeth the Movie The Tragedy of Macbeth was written in 1606 AD by William Shakespeare. Roman Polanski directed this movie; and it was released on October 13th, 1971. The rating for this movie on IMDb is 7.5 out of 10. According to Steve Biodrowski, the 1971 film version which was taken from Shakespeare’s text downplays the violence. The director takes a unique path in his movie, and the result is one of the best Shakespearian adaptations.
In the movie, symbolism plays an important role to assist the theme of corruption of power and murder. Throughout the movie, there are several symbols that are used to emphasize these themes. Blood representing guilt, pain, and murder, contrast between light and dark symbolizes good and evil and pattern of purification by using water to represents removal of guilt. All of these symbolisms were displayed to achieve the topic of evil. Macbeth is the story about a nobleman, who is trying to fulfill a prophecy told by the three witches. He murders his King to become the
…show more content…
Macbeth feels uncomfortable with the blood that he sees on his hands, so he quickly tries to get rid of it after killing the guards. A quote from the movie that Lady Macbeth uses to describe the image of blood was, “Here 's the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”. This quote is trying to explain to the audience that she is cursed by the smell of blood. She is drowned in guilt due to being haunted by horror and fear. After the murder takes place, Lady Macbeth would sleepwalk in the castle; she sees blood that is not there. This occurs because she knows her own guilt and realizes the mistakes that she has made; however she cannot undo what she has done. Sleep is a natural process and the disruption that they caused by the fracture of moral

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Further in the play, the audience learns of her sleepwalking patterns. In this state, she reveals the murder to the Doctor. Lady Macbeth is seen trying to wash her hands over and over again, though no amount of cleanliness can rid her of this ‘damned spot’: “What, will these hands ne'er be clean?” This is ironic as Lady Macbeth herself was the one who persuaded Macbeth into killing Duncan. We see Lady Macbeth start to crumble in the second half of the play, and finally her guilt becomes overpowering as she commits suicide at the end of the play. This is how Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to portray the theme of guilt in the…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth”, one dominant moral is made clear to the audience, do not tempt fate, let nature take its course. Some of the ways that Shakespeare achieves this is through the development of conflicts in the plot and also through dialogue, vivid imagery and metaphors created by the atmosphere in the play. The characters develop in the early acts to identify the protagonist and antagonists to the audience. The characters contribute rhetoric that reveals the disturbing of Shakespeare’s theory of the Great Chain of Being, the natural course of order.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Metaphors In Macbeth

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page

    1. Raven Raven is the symbol of death. It relates to the play because this relates to King Duncan’s murder. Raven was used during Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s conversation. 2.…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy, written between the years of 1599 and 1606. It tells the story of a Scottish general, known as Macbeth who receives a prophecy from three witches claiming that he will, someday, become king of Scotland. The play demonstrates two main themes through the desires of kingship and power Lady Macbeth has for Macbeth and the numerous murders committed by Macbeth in order to fulfill these and his own want for power. The two main themes of Macbeth include ‘the corrupting nature of unchecked ambition’ and ‘the relationship between cruelty and masculinity.’ The first and most common theme, ‘the corrupting nature of unchecked ambition,’ initially arises when Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth of his new title and how he is…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lady Macbeth: “Here’s the smell of blood still: all the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this / little hand. Oh, oh, oh” (V.I.50-52). Lady Macbeth has become berserk from the murders she assisted in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and she is attempting to wash imaginary blood off of her hands in her sleep, which represents her guilt. This quote is ironic due to Lady Macbeth taunting Macbeth in act II, scene II about when he was hysterical about Duncan’s blood on his hands. She tells Macbeth that a little water will wash off the blood, but now, she is struggling with cleaning imaginary blood off of her hands in her sleep, and despite everything she attempts to do, nothing will clean it off in her mind. This leads to Lady Macbeth becoming…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth is a play full of darkness, evil, and tragedy. It is the story of a…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth's Downfall

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The main character, Macbeth, is corrupt with guilt. Because of the witch's three prophecies, Macbeth finds himself contemplating on how he could finish the last prophecy; becoming the king of Scotland. Once Macbeth finishes the task of killing…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lady Macbeth enters the room and says, “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! Oh!” (5. 1. 43-45) This is where the audience knows that Lady Macbeth finally realizes she is guilty of these murders. This lead to an example of external conflict, starting where she was sleepwalking telling on herself, to where she killed herself over this. When facing something like this one can only wear a mask for so long. Lady Macbeth kept seeing the blood stains on her hands because once an image like that gets to you it does not go away. Blood literally stains not only clothing but mentally also. Even though all of this was Lady Macbeth’s idea she blamed it on Macbeth until she told on herself. Some way or somehow the truth always comes out no matter how hard you try to hide it. This example of external conflict is so important in this book because it shows the readers that Lady Macbeth’s character changes throughout the book and that she is not as strong as she seemed to be. Her character is very dynamic, she undergoes an internal change that affects her externally. During the beginning of the story she is very demanding and heartless, throughout the book she starts to soften up. Lady Macbeth’s true character comes out during this scene. This also shows the readers how weak she is when she was…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth's Journey

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The play Macbeth shows the journey of a man who is led to eventual destruction. Shakespeare writes of a man named Macbeth who is a war hero. Macbeth soon after helping the victory of a war was visited by three witches who told him his prophecy where he learned that he would be promoted to the title of Thane of Cawdor and eventually king.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, blood serves as a symbol of death several times throughout the play. Death is a dark non-living thing. Blood, gore,and darkness is a general theme of motif of death. Macbeth considers murdering Duncan he spots a “dagger of the mind” (2.1.50) that guides him to the room where the king is sleeping. Macbeth continues to think is his mind playing mind games with him. For example, he believes that the dagger is covered with imaginary blood which makes him second guess about killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth goes in for the kill and goes into his room and kill him. “O horror, horror, horror!” (2.3.59) Macbeth goes running from out the room saying that King Duncan has been killed. Lennox and Macbeth rush in to see what was happening. In the long run Macbeth know he committed the crime but tried to act like he…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Symbolism Analysis

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the play, “Macbeth” written by Shakespeare there are many deaths and strange happenings taking place. Many of the main characters begin to die off, really taking you by surprise. Shakespeare had an interesting idea to include the use of symbolism and imagery throughout his play. Symbolism is the use of symbols to explain the meaning of qualities, emotions, or ideas. Imagery is a description of visual symbolism in a literary work. There were multiple uses of symbolism and imagery acknowledged from beginning to end. Three of the main appearances of symbolism and imagery seem to involve the use of the number three, symbols of death, and strange occurrences in nature.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare between 1606-11 conveys the ambition of a man who lusts for power and his downfall from his position of greatness. Macbeth's downfall is started when three witches, using their supernatural knowledge, stir trouble in Scotland. Macbeth believes in the prophecies that they offer him and strengthened by his own ambition and encouragement from his wife, Lady Macbeth, he discovers the guilt associated with maintaining power and his downfall begins.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Play Analysis

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Review: Macbeth a visually striking period piece for the modern viewer We all wrote an essay about it in high school; Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is so widely read that it’s surprising Justin Kurzel’s newest film is the first notable cinematic adaptation since Roman Polanski’s in 1971. Kurzel’s take on the Scottish play is a spectacle of haunting violence; he takes advantage of the cinematic medium and crafts a stunning aesthetic. As an adaptation, the film offers an imaginative reading of the familiar narrative of the eponymous Scottish general (Michael Fassbender, sure to draw a crowd at the box office) and his infamously manipulative wife (Marion Cotillard, art-house ace). However, in its attempts to be visually striking, much will seem to have…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Imagery

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Blood is used vividly throughout Macbeth, from the beginning battle of the Scots and Norwegians to Lady Macbeth's Hallucination. The mention of blood serves to set the tone of a scene and to emphasize the death and killing in the play. Such as when Duncan's body is discovered, “his silver skin laced with his golden blood” (2.2.102), the mention of blood sets a dark tone for the rest of the scene. In Macbeth there tends to be an large amount of blood imagery after each murder, as if the progression of the story flows along with the blood of the murdered. Before Duncan's death there is very little mention of death in the current scene, but after blood is used profusely. Such as when Duncan's chamberlains are described being “badged in blood” as well as Donalbain being told “the fountain of his blood is stopped” (2.3.91,88). A large amount of blood is mentioned after Banquo's murder as well. The murderers describe Banquo's body to Macbeth in gory detail, as well as the description of Banquo's ghost when he haunts Macbeth. Third, blood imagery characterizes the deaths and killings in the play, as in the opening when Macbeth is honored and called “Brave Macbeth” when he slashes Macdonwald from “nave to th' chops”. Then after the murderers killing of Banquo Macbeth is characterized as evil and trecherous.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blood Symbol In Macbeth

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth symbolism is used to represent the theme of murder. Symbolism is the most frequently literary device used in the play. Blood, Sleep, and Weather are recurring symbols that are seen as Macbeth goes through different stages of power and control. The witch’s prophecies spark both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s interest in fulfilling their deep desires. Macbeth with the help of his wife began to take fate into his own hands which ultimately leads to demise of the couple.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics