In Macbeth, Shakespeare also uses the hand motif to express the guilt that Macbeth feels for the various sins that he has committed during his attempt to rule Scotland. This includes the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and the wife and child of Macduff. One line in the play that shows this is line.2 45-46, “Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand.” This line shows that both literally and metaphorically, there is blood on Macbeth’s hand. The literal blood is easily remedied and can be washed off with water, but as the hand washing metaphor continues to resurface throughout the story, I infer that his guilt for the murders that Macbeth commits, or the blood on his hands, is never washed away until his death in scene 5.8
