Crime, murder, horror, and guilt primarily identify with blood because of its connection to life and death. Blood rushes through the body of living things, while the heart actively pumps it. But, death will be an outcome, if the heart fails to pump the blood and nourish the body. None-the-less, blood demonstrates various symbols in both literature and modern-day. Macbeth is best acknowledged for its connection to blood with represented qualities such as compunction, aspiration, and murder. Macbeth by William Shakespeare expresses a pivotal motif of blood that represents guilt, ambition, violence and death.
Ambition is a recurring theme in Macbeth that corresponds with the motif of blood. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are both eager for power and …show more content…
Lady Macbeth states,“make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse”(1.5.43-44- Macbeth). Lady Macbeth asks to thicken her blood, because she wants to avoid guilt and contrition. According to A.C Bradley’s lecture on Macbeth, “She prays the spirits of cruelty so to thicken her blood that pity cannot flow through her veins,” which indicates she wants to be full of poison to abstain from remorse (Bradley 2). Lady Macbeth strives to meet her bloody thirsty intentions, which signifies a lack of compassion, ultimately demonstrating her ambition. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth“[...] Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it (1.5.15-20)”. Lady Macbeth conveys Macbeth’s feminine qualities and his benevolence, allowing her to conclude that he cannot cause unjust harm. She enrages Macbeth, which causes the start of …show more content…
Culpability is a crucial aspect in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth experiences drastic guilt in the play. Before, Lady Macbeth experiences the feeling of remorse, she smears her hand in the King’s blood to prove her husband 's cowardness. However, the severity of her guilt conquers her. Lady Macbeth screeches, “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!” (2.2). Lady Macbeth’s pungent hands are too strong to be cleansed by “all the perfume in Arabia” which emphasizes the guilt she feels to her core. Lady Macbeth calls out “Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One; two: why, then, ‘tis time to do’t.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?-- Yet who would have thought such and old man to have had so much blood in him”(5.1.30-34). Her hands are literally clean, but her conscience makes her believe they are ‘stained’ due to her unjust actions. Lady Macbeth no longer wishes to suffer from torment, which leads her to committing suicide to ease her pain that guilt brought upon her. Guilt has a major impact on the play in concern to blood. However, violence and death are the most prominent and
Ambition is a recurring theme in Macbeth that corresponds with the motif of blood. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are both eager for power and …show more content…
Lady Macbeth states,“make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse”(1.5.43-44- Macbeth). Lady Macbeth asks to thicken her blood, because she wants to avoid guilt and contrition. According to A.C Bradley’s lecture on Macbeth, “She prays the spirits of cruelty so to thicken her blood that pity cannot flow through her veins,” which indicates she wants to be full of poison to abstain from remorse (Bradley 2). Lady Macbeth strives to meet her bloody thirsty intentions, which signifies a lack of compassion, ultimately demonstrating her ambition. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth“[...] Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it (1.5.15-20)”. Lady Macbeth conveys Macbeth’s feminine qualities and his benevolence, allowing her to conclude that he cannot cause unjust harm. She enrages Macbeth, which causes the start of …show more content…
Culpability is a crucial aspect in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth experiences drastic guilt in the play. Before, Lady Macbeth experiences the feeling of remorse, she smears her hand in the King’s blood to prove her husband 's cowardness. However, the severity of her guilt conquers her. Lady Macbeth screeches, “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!” (2.2). Lady Macbeth’s pungent hands are too strong to be cleansed by “all the perfume in Arabia” which emphasizes the guilt she feels to her core. Lady Macbeth calls out “Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One; two: why, then, ‘tis time to do’t.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?-- Yet who would have thought such and old man to have had so much blood in him”(5.1.30-34). Her hands are literally clean, but her conscience makes her believe they are ‘stained’ due to her unjust actions. Lady Macbeth no longer wishes to suffer from torment, which leads her to committing suicide to ease her pain that guilt brought upon her. Guilt has a major impact on the play in concern to blood. However, violence and death are the most prominent and