Macbeth
 
By William Shakespeare
 
In the play "Macbeth", a symbol of blood is portrayed often
(and with different meanings), and developed until it is
the dominating theme of the play. The word "blood", or
different forms of it, occurs forty-two times and the word
fear is used forty-two times. The symbol of blood changes
throughout the play, as Macbeth's character changes. First
he is a brave honoured soldier, but as the play progresses,
he becomes a treacherous person who has become identified
with death and bloodshed and shows his guilt in different
forms.
 
The first reference of blood is one of honour, and occurs
when Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says "What bloody
man is that?". This is symbolic of the brave fighter who
been injured in a valiant battle for his country. In the
next passage, in which the sergeant says "Which smok'd with
bloody execution", he is referring to Macbeth's braveness
in which his sword is covered in the hot blood of the enemy.
 
After these few references to honour, the symbol of blood
now changes to show a theme of treachery and treason. Lady
Macbeth starts this off when she asks the spirits to "make
thick my blood,". What she is saying by this, is that she
wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the
deeds which she is about to commit. Lady Macbeth knows that
the evidence of blood is a treacherous symbol, and knows it
will deflect the guilt from her and Macbeth to the servants
when she says "smear the sleepy grooms with blood.", and
"If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
for it must seem their guilt." When Banquo states "and
question this most bloody piece of work," and Ross says
"is't known who did this more than bloody deed?", they are
both inquiring as to who performed the treacherous acts
upon Duncan. When Macbeth is speaking about Malcolm and
Donalbain, he refers to them as "bloody cousins"
 
A final way, and perhaps the most vivid use of the symbol
blood, is with the theme of guilt. First Macbeth hints at
his guilt when he says "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash
this blood clean from my hand?", meaning that he wondered
if he would ever be able to forget the dastardly deed that
he had committed. Then the ghost of Banquo, all gory, and
bloody comes to haunt Macbeth at the banquet. The sight of
apparitions represents his guilt for the murder of Banquo
which he planned. Macbeth shows a bit of his guilt when he
says "It is the bloody business which informs thus," he
could not get the courage to say murder after he had killed
Duncan, so he says this instead.
 
Lady Macbeth shows the most vivid example of guilt using
the symbol of blood in the scene in which she walks in her
sleep. She says "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 out power to account? Yet who would have
thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?".
This speech represents the fact that she cannot wipe the
blood stains of Duncan off of her hands. It is ironic, that
she says this, because right after the murder, when Macbeth
was feeling guilty, she said "A little water clears us of
this deed." When the doctor of the castle finds out about
this sleepwalking, he tells Macbeth "As she is troubled
with thick-coming fantasies,". What this means, is that
Lady Macbeth is having fantasies or dreams that deal with
blood. Macbeth knows in his mind that she is having
troubles with her guilt, but does not say anything about it.
 
Just before the ending of the play, Macbeth has Macduff at
his mercy, and lets him go, because of his guilt. He shows
that he is guilty, when he says "But get thee back, my soul
is too much charg'd with blood of thine already.". Of
which, Macduff replies, "I have no words, my voice is in my
sword, thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out."
 
After the death of Macbeth at the hands of Macduff, the
symbolic theme of blood swings back to what it was at the
beginning of the play. It is the symbol of honour to
Malcolm this time. The death of Macbeth is honoured feat
that Macduff is congratulated for.
 
The symbolic use of the word blood change from meaning
honour to treachery, and then to guilt. At the end of the
play, it returns to the symbolic meaning of honour after
the villain that changed the meaning from honour to tyranny
is killed.