William Shakespeare 's ' Macbeth ' Essay

Shakespeare is one of the most famous playwrights of his Century. King James 1 was king for 3 years, which had previously been King James IV of Scotland. The King James symbolized the union of the Scottish and English crowns, is referred to in the play. It was well known that the new king was fascinated by witchcraft; Shakespeare might have been trying to win his approval by introducing the figures of the 'three weird sisters ' into the play. Shakespeare loved his symbolism, which is shown throughout his plays and is evident in Macbeth.

One of the symbols in Macbeth was blood which, throughout the play-symbolized guilt. After Macbeth kills King Duncan there is a knocking and he exclaims ‘’All great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood /Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather “(2.2.58-59) This quote explains how the enormity of the crime he has committed dawns on him and the incredible sense of guilt he feels. He shows this by talking about the blood on him and how even all the water from Neptune’s great ocean could not clean the blood from his hands but he is also talking about the guilt he feels. In the last act of the play Lady Macbeth is seen to be going crazy. She continuously sees spots of blood on her hands and keeps trying to wash the blood spots off. The spots of blood that she is seeing is actually a visual representation of the guilt she feels after forcing her husband to kill the king and the events after.

When Macbeth becomes king the natural world…