He can report,/ As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt/ The newest state.” (1.2.1-3), to which blood indicates the open wounds Macbeth had caused to him. Shakespeare’s use of blood in this scene represents the loyalty and honor as Macbeth killed Macdonwald in defense of the king. After the battle, Macbeth was rewarded with a new title as the Thane of Cawdor yet he was not completely satisfied as he became greedy. Shakespeare also uses bloody images to foreshadow future events associated with Macbeth’s power. Aside from symbolizing blood as honor, he uses it to demonstrate the character of Macbeth and his drastic personality change as the play progresses.
The image of blood is now reversed. No longer representing courage and valor, but is now a symbol of the treachery that is brewing inside Macbeth's mind. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" (Act 2, Scene 2, line 60) Having just betrayed his friend and king, Macbeth's conscience weighs heavily on him as he realizes the severity of his actions. The blood on Macbeth's hands represents guilt that he doubts he will ever be rid of.
Ashley Demerac August 24th, 2015 01.07: Macbeth – Character Disintegration Topic Choice #2: Explore how Macbeth changes over the course of the play. Macbeth changes quite significantly during the course of the play. In the beginning, Macbeth is a valued general, a dear husband, and an ardent subject of the king. When the first revelations are made by the witches, Macbeth shows his more aggressive side, leading to his murder of the king. Since Lady Macbeth set him up to this by insulting his manhood, Macbeth took a turn for the worst when he started experiencing fear and guilt.
Blood is a reoccurring element in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, which opens with the treacherous battle between the Scots and Norwegian invaders, described by the wounded and bloody captain in Act 1, scene 2. Blood initially symbolized heroism, valor, and bravery, but as the play progressed, the actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth transformed blood to represent treachery, evil, and guilt. The play begins with a battle between the Scottish kinsmen and the bothersome Norwegian invaders. In this scene, Duncan says to the captain, “what bloody man is that? He can report/ As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt/ The newest state.” (1.2.18-20).
and quit my sight...Which thou dost glare with!”, a quote that displays Macbeth running in an endless stream of self-doubt and conflict over the death of Banquo. Many believe this scene to be one that of the king’s last sense of morality, the feeling of pain and hallucination of fearing the loss of power that murdering a friend seems justifiable. The lack of honor Macbeth held for his subjects continued on, his interests never aligning with the responsibilities of the crown, but who to be rid of in order to maintain it. Not even in the last few moments of his life did Macbeth hold honor toward Scotland or the respect that is entailed by his majesty. “Then yield thee, coward,” Macduff began in the final fight scene.
In The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare demonstrates the build of guilt and remorse that Macbeth and his Queen begin to develop, consequently aids and foreshadows their demise. Shakespeare uses a wide variety of imagery to emphasize how guilt affects Macbeth’s life. Also, throughout the play, multiple pieces of evidence are displayed to prove how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both change drastically from the beginning to the end of this piece. Finally, towards the end of the play, Macbeth finally comes to terms with himself and his devious actions, thus restoring his old mentality. Guilt is a factor of human nature and touches just about everyone at some point.
There are an abundant amount of accounts in Shakespeare’s poem, Macbeth, which depict Macbeth as being morally ambiguous. Throughout the story, Macbeth is seen as heroic, evil, and misfortunate. Ultimately, Macbeth is tragic hero insofar as he was once a hero; however, he allowed for his ambition to get the best of him and lead him to his downfall. First of all, the beginning of the poem, the Sergeant glorifies Macbeth by notifying King Duncan of his heroic actions in battle. “For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name) disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like Valour’s minion carved out his passage, till he faced the slave, which never shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, till he unseamed
Macbeth’s ambition to become king, which is a position of great control over scotland’s affairs, causes him to lose control in his own life. In order to attain the throne, Macbeth commits murder, and the resulting guilt overwhelms and takes over his life. He becomes paranoid, and as he attempts to secure his throne by removing anyone whom he suspects to be a threat, he neglects Lady Macbeth, who had ultimate control over him so that he lost control in his life when Lady Macbeth distanced from him and died. Even at the beginning of the play, Macbeth had become submissive to the fate that the witches had prophesized for him, such that he did not account for the choices that he makes in life anymore and lost control. Macbeth becomes victim to guilt when he kills Duncan for the throne, and guilt then takes over his life, leaving him without control of his own behaviors.
Was Macbeth’s decline and death his own fault? In the play “Macbeth”, written by William Shakespeare, we notice that Macbeth’s decline and his death is the result of his own fault. Macbeth is one of the main characters in the play, he transforms from being a war-hero to becoming a vicious murder. The arguments that support this statement to be true are: Macbeth’s ambition, the killings of Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family and finally Macduff’s revenge. Firstly, Macbeth’s decline and death is his own fault because of his ambition.
A powerful ambition for power caused him to make sinister decisions that created for him only despair, guilt, and madness. At the end of the play he was no longer honourable and, instead, a tyrant. Meanwhile Faustus loses his entire academic prowess and ultimately is pulled into hell by the choices he made to go against God, his conscience and Nature. Macbeth has an immediate consequence of his actions and that is his death in the plays final scene. Throughout the course of the play we see how he changes from ‘Valour’s minion’ to his death and a ‘Butcher’.