What Does Blood Symbolize In Macbeth

In Macbeth, blood takes place as the symbol of guilt and murder and Shakespeare uses the symbol to characterize Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Blood symbolism showcases the suspicion of Macbeth before he murders Duncan. Macbeth hallucinates a dagger floating above leading him to Duncan’s room. “And only thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,/ Which was not so before.- There’s no such thing:/ It is the bloody business which informs/ Thus to mine eyes.” Macbeth’s mind is so “heat-oppressed”, or inflames, about the killing that it becomes the symbol of murder, the bloody dagger. After Macbeth kills Duncan, Shakespeare uses this symbol of blood to emphasize Macbeth’s guilt about the crimes he’s committed. Macbeth states,’What hands are here! Ha! they pluck out mine eyes.” He says that seeing blood mixed with the thought of murder is so terrifying that symbolically tears his eyes out, signaling the magnitude of his shock. Macbeth isn’t just terrified by the killing but he also feels guilty. Macbeth also feels guilty for killing Banquo. When Macbeth meets with the Thanes at the banquet, Banquo’s ghost shows up. Macbeth implies that the ghost haunts him in allegation of killing him. Macbeth argues, “Thou canst not say I did it: never shake/ Thy gory locks at me.” Gory locks indicate that Banquo is bloody. Banquo’s …show more content…
He tells Lady Macbeth, “I am in blood/ Step’t in so far that, should I wade no more, / returning were as tedious as go o’er.” This metaphor compares guilt to a pool or swamp, Macbeth says that he was waded so far into this pool that it’d be as hard to turn back as it’d be to keep going. The metaphor explains Macbeth’s “no turning back now” attitude towards murder and evil. He seems to feel like he is already so filled with guilt that he might as well accept it. the blood symbol reveals a fundamental attitude change in Macbeth. He changes from remorseful to accepting his