Motif Of Nature And Blood In Macbeth

Before Duncan’s murder, Macbeth imagines that he sees a dagger floating in the air in front of him. (“And on thy blade and dungeon, gouts of blood, which was not so before. There’s no such thing: it is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes.” (Act 2 scene 1 lines 46-49). The blood imagery here refers to murder, ambition, and betrayal. This is a totally different meaning than earlier in the play. Before, blood was seen as a positive thing. Now, it is associated with evil. It also shows Macbeth’s transformation from a person of honesty, nobility, and bravery to an evil, deceitful person. After Macbeth murders Duncan, he starts to see how severe his crime was and tries to wash Duncan’s blood off his hands. (“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”) Act 2 scene 2 lines 60-63. This shows that Macbeth’s character is starting to get weaker because of his crime. The blood does not represent a feeling of ambition; it now represents remorse, and guilt. Macbeth is so upset and says that not even all the water in the ocean will wash the blood off his hands. Duncan was a kind generous man and he had no

William Shakespeare enhances his play, Macbeth, by including a variety of motifs. “In a literary work, a motif can be seen as an image, sound, action or other figures that have a symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme,” (Literarydevices.net). In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses sleep, blood, hallucination, darkness and many other motifs to show importance in the play. Beginning with the battle between the Scots and the Norwegian invaders, blood is one of the most significant motifs that are presented in Macbeth. Shakespeare uses blood to symbolize power, courage and heroism as well as, death, cruelty and guilt.

William Shakespeare uses different techniques to increase the excitement and intensity in his plays. Macbeth is the dramatic play written by William Shakespeare has many good examples of imagery, especially that of blood. William Shakespeare’s play about Macbeth is a story of ambition and intrigue. The ambition creates actions that lead to the breakdown of the main character and which drove

Blood is essential to every human beings survival. It is a fluid circulating throughout the body that carries nutrients and oxygen to the tissues in exchange for life and if this was somehow lost then the life would also be lost. It represents life, death, and injury. It is an essential part of life. Without it, we would not live. As a symbol and major theme in Macbeth, Blood is used most often to represent injury and death, but also life. In Macbeth, he uses blood to represents impurity. Shakespeare often accompanies the image of water with the image of blood. The water represents cleansing and purity.

Shakespeare foregrounds that Macbeth was aware of and resposible for his actions, through conscience and free will, to illustrate that he was not a victim of supernatural forces. By doing this he is challeging the assumptions of the Elizabethan Era that supernatural forces and "supernatural soliciting" predetermine one's destiny. The hallucinations and ghostly apparitions are foreground not to illustrate supernatural interference, but to foreground Macbeth’s guilty conscience. Macbeth struggles with his conscience, this humanises him and invites the audience to relate to him. Even before Macbeth had committed murder, his conscience was causing him to have qualms. One example of this is in Act One Scene 7, before the regicide of Duncan. “We will proceed no further in this business. (Duncan) hath honoured me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon.” Macbeth was disinclined to murder “gracious Duncan” as he believed him to be a “good king” (4:III 163), however he still made the decision to commit regicide. This foregrounds the internal struggle Macbeth endured with his conscience that makes him a tragic hero. Supernatural elements exist to

In Shakespeare's Macbeth a play, a man named Macbeth goes through a great transformation; Macbeth goes from being a heroic general in the king's army to an assassin and a tyrant. The theme of the play is never give into evil because it destroys no matter what the benefits are. Blood Imagery is very important in the play; it shows Macbeth's evil ambition in the beginning, middle, and end of the play.

In Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, many motifs are used to accentuate many different themes in the text. These themes are used to further the meaning of the play, as well as to give another definition to the characters in it. Macbeth is a highly ranked military general who is very brave and courageous. In the beginning of the play, three witches come to Macbeth and tell him a prophecy, which tells him that he is destined to become king. Macbeth trusts this prophecy and goes on a tyrannical rampage to become king. Blood is one of many motifs that Shakespeare constantly uses to accentuate many ideas which occur in the play. Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes blood in order to demonstrate that even if someone is not caught for an immoral action, the guilt they feel and the liability they experience will still punish them.

Macbeth is the ultimate story of a fight between the forces of good and evil. It tells the tale of a tragic hero whose quest for power leads to his ultimate downfall. Macbeth starts out as an honorable warrior but changes when his ambition becomes uncontrollable. As he becomes increasingly paranoid, Macbeth uses violent means to eliminate threats to his Scottish throne. As the play progresses, blood continuously plays a part in the events as the murders become more frequent. William Shakespeare, the author of Macbeth, uses blood imagery to develop Macbeth’s character, create a foil in between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and to symbolize honor and guilt.

With attention to the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth struggles with the morality of his actions. Before the murder takes place, Macbeth begins to believe that the murder will “be the be-all and the end-all” to his clear conscious and would risk him to eternal damnation (Act I, line 5). Yet, the murder would bring him power over Scotland and he “shalt be kind” as told by the Weird Sisters(Act 1, line 50). Macbeth goes off of his ambition to murder King Duncan. The internal struggle of choosing mortality over motives brought forth an intense shift of loyalty to betrayal. The murder caused for Macbeth to turn on Scotland and only care for his own selfish motives. The betrayal causes for the play to become horrific and have a double meaning. Macbeth must put on a face to hide his murder to become the king. The double meaning is how Macbeth looks like a hero to all of Scotland, but only the people on the inside know of his horrific actions. He had to murder to to get the position of King, but the

     In the play ‘Macbeth’, Shakespeare uses brutal imagery, with association of blood.  The mood of disgust and horror towards the characters and setting is established by the references to the universal representation of death and pain. The first mention of blood seems to establish a sense of honor. The second mention of blood seems to communicate betrayal.  Lastly the third allusion of blood appears to establish a sense of guilt All of these images of blood help develop the atmosphere and scene and contribute to the over all drama of the play.

The use of blood imagery also allows the audience to imagine the true gruesomeness of King Duncan’s murder. In Act II of Macbeth, the soliloquy describes how Macbeth plans to murder the king. He describes in detail what he will see. “ I see thee still, and on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before.” (Act II, Scene 5. Line1) The dudgeon of a dagger is the hilt of the dagger (123helpme.com, pg. 1) Therefore; Macbeth is describing a sharp dagger, covered in thick blood from its tip to the hilt. One can easily visualize the crime scene and the victim’s body after such a dagger has been plunged into it several times. These deep wounds, the length of said dagger, become the points from which King Duncan’s lifeblood will spill. This particular description relies on its imagery to reveal the transition from honor to that of pure evil and treachery. No good intent, honor, or victory can attach to such a vile act. Blood imagery now intensifies an atmosphere that is thoroughly evil. It exposes the evil plans and actions that have come to dominate the characters of Macbeth and his lady. Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to “ make thick my blood.” (Act I, Scene 5, line. 50) She is asking the spirits to leave her” remorseless and insensitive about the murders she and Macbeth will soon commit. To feel insensitive to such treachery would expose a heart of pure evil.

     The longest running tradition in medicine, bloodletting, was a widely accepted practice with a three-thousand year-old history from the ancient Egyptians to the late 19th century. At that time, physicians thought that disease was a curse caused by the supernatural. It was a common idea that blood carried the vital force of the body and was the seat of the soul. Anything from body weaknesses to insanity were attributed to a defect in this vital fluid. Bloodletting was a method for balancing other fluids in the body and cleansing it of impurities. Shakespeare takes the same knowledge of blood and applies it to “Macbeth” in which the connotations not only foretell one’s glory but also one’s guilt.

     In his masterpiece Macbeth, William Shakespeare employs many motifs, but none more often than blood and water. The play includes many images of blood and water to show the characters' attitudes toward their own development of guilt. Both motifs mature and change in their meaning along with the setting and mood of the play. “Without an understanding of the blood and water symbolism, the play cannot be completely understood”(Scott 14). Blood symbolizes honor, treachery, and guilt. Water, in contrast, symbolizes cleanliness and purity of the soul, as though all it takes is water to wash guilt away.

Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood in MacBeth to represent treason, guilt, murder and death. These ideas are constant throughout the book. There are many examples of blood representing these three ideas in the book.

lady Macbeth asks the spirits "Make thick my blood." In this quote she wants to make