Macbeth is a short drama written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600s. It is set in mediaeval Scotland and tells the narrative of Macbeth, a Lord who is loyal to the King, but is misdirected by the enchantresss ‘ prognostications and by his and Lady Macbeth ‘s aspiration. The drama depicts his bloody rise to power and tragic ruin. Blood is a symbol that appears throughout the drama and is present during many of import scenes. Shakespeare uses the image of blood to exemplify alterations in Macbeth ‘s character throughout the drama. At the beginning of the drama, blood is used to stand for Macbeth ‘s trueness and award as a soldier. As the drama progresses, he becomes a unreliable individual, bewraying King Duncan and slaying him. The blood now is associated with slaying and Macbeth ‘s lese majesty. Towards the terminal of the drama, the image of blood shows the ageless guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth is foremost introduced to the audience by a hurt captain, who describes him as a heroic soldier, contending without clemency to protect King Duncan. Harmonizing to the captain,
aˆ¦ brave Macbeth aˆ¦
aˆ¦ with his brandished steel
Which smoked with bloody executing
Like heroism ‘s minion, carved out his transition
Till he faced the slave. ( 1.2.18-22 )
The audience is given rather a ghastly image of Macbeth dividing Macdonwald ‘s organic structure in half and so beheading him, demoing Macbeth ‘s bravery and cruelty as a warrior. The fact that the “ bloody adult male ” ( 1.2.1 ) himself is severely hurt makes his relation of the narrative even more valorous, and his blood seems to promote Macbeth ‘s image as a hero. King Duncan congratulationss both of them for their gallantry, mentioning to Macbeth as his “ valorous cousin ” and “ worthy gentleman ” ( 1.2.26 ) . At this point of the drama, blood symbolizes award and trueness every bit good as courage, triumph and the good.
As the drama goes on, Macbeth ‘s character alterations and so does the image of blood. He decides to slay Duncan and assume the throne. Just before perpetrating the slaying, he hallucinates and imagines “ a sticker of the head ” ( 2.1.50 ) before him. He says to the knife, “ I see thee still, / And, on thy blade and dudgeon, urarthritiss of blood, / Which was non so before ” ( 2.1.57-59 ) . He besides tries to reassure himself, stating that “ There ‘s no such thing: / It is the bloody concern which informs / Thus to mine eyes ” ( 2.1.59-61 ) . The bloody concern refers to the slaying he is about to perpetrate. This scene is the turning point of the drama, which shows the beginning of Macbeth ‘s character transmutation from a brave and honest adult male to a unreliable, evil and unmerciful autocrat. The image of blood symbolizes lese majesty, aspiration and slaying, contrasting what it meant earlier in the drama. It is now associated with immorality.
After Macbeth slayings Duncan, he begins to recognize the magnitude of his offense. He says, “ This is a regretful sight ” ( 2.2.28 ) , looking at Duncan ‘s blood on his custodies. He tries to rinse Duncan ‘s blood, and his ain guilt, off his custodies:
Will all great Neptune ‘s ocean wash this blood
Clean and jerk from my manus? No, this my manus will instead
The countless seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red. ( 2.2.78-81 )
This illustrates how the act of slaying has changed Macbeth ‘s character, turning him into a adult male full of guilt and compunction. However, he does non halt at one slaying but, out of paranoia, attempts to solidify his place as a male monarch and acquire rid of anyone standing in his manner. The image of blood continues to stalk Macbeth as the shade of murdered Banquo shows up at his banquet. Shocked by the visual aspect of the shade, he exclaims, “ I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were every bit boring as go o’er ” ( 3.4.168-170 ) . This shows how dramatically Macbeth ‘s character has changed – he has stepped so far into the universe of immorality that it is impossible for him to deliver himself and return to righteousness, irrespective of how guilty he might experience.
It is clear that Shakespeare uses the image of blood to heighten the audience ‘s apprehension of Macbeth and his character transmutation. He starts off as a baronial and merely individual, turns ambitious and unreliable and, eventually, becomes a adult male full of guilt and compunction for his offense. On the other manus, blood imagination is besides used by Shakespeare to arouse a splanchnic reaction from the audience. Blood represents birth, hurt, decease and the rhythm of life. It is an indispensable portion of life without which one can non last. Some people fear blood because it makes them remember their ain hurts ( for illustration, a cut in one ‘s flesh ) , war memories or the decease of person they know. One may seek to avoid blood but that is impossible as it runs in everyone. By conveying the image of blood on phase and doing it virtually ubiquitous, from the shed blooding Captain to the beheaded Macbeth at the terminal, Shakespeare succeeds in doing his drama easier to associate to and for the audience to experience like portion of the action, instead than merely perceivers.
