Blood And Blood Symbols In Shakespeare's Macbeth

Bloodshed, violence, and betrayal are important symbols in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Throughout the story, blood represents life and death, guilt, and tragedy. The opening scene in this story starts with bloodshed on the battlefield when Macbeth and his army take on Macdowald and his army. Macbeth and his wife also commit a deadly sin by killing King Duncan for their own selfish reasons. Macbeth continues to indirectly kill his best friend, Banquo, by hiring hitmen. After the deadly deed is done the blood on their hands come off physically but the imaginary blood stays in their memory reminding them of their sin. The permanent and imaginary bloodshed they have caused is a reminder and reflection on their deed. Unfortunately this reminder does not prevent Macbeth from causing even more bloodshed. The selfish decisions that Macbeth has made throws the order of the kingdom out of balance. The decisions made eventually causes the downfall of Macbeth. Blood (shed) is a prevalent factor is the story that is Macbeth and without it their would be no story. One way that blood was shown as a significant …show more content…
One of these depictions is blood representing the guilt that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are filled with because of their corrupt deeds. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth allowed a title to get the best of them. Being paranoid and greed for power led Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to commit the actions that they did. Lady Macbeth tries to convince her husband into killing King Duncan so that his chances of being adjacent to throne will be higher. Macbeth reluctantly does his deed and once he has done it, he returns home with bloody hands already filled with guilt and haunted by the terrible and unforgivable actions. Blood is also represented as guilt because during a banquet, the ghost of Banquo is at the banquet haunting him after he arranged to be murdered when his paranoia got even