Blood is a very important part of one’s life and mostly represents life, injury, and then death. Shakespeare uses this image of blood throughout the playwright of Macbeth. It starts when Macbeth is a brave soldier and fights for his country with one of his good friends Banquo and ends when Macbeth is beheaded by Macduff. Throughout all of this, guilt and treason play a major factor with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Multiple bloody deaths occur including Duncan, the King of Scotland and Macbeth’s old friend Banquo.
He is admired by the public, “For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name...”. as well as his wife, Lady Macbeth who convinces him to kill in order to achieve his goal of becoming king. When the witches tell Macbeth that he will become king, he becomes obsessed with gaining power. He will stop at nothing, not even the murder of the current king, on his road to becoming king. Like all tragic heroes Macbeth demonstrates he is doomed to make errors in judgment when he allows Lady Macbeth to convince him to commit murder in order to gain the crown.
The idea of blood in other works and novels typically evokes the idea of slaughter and massacre. However, in this play the blood symbolizes the guilt that will forever stain the palms of Macbeth and his wife. The simple act of murder that was once looked at as indifferent led to a devastating past. Macbeth expresses his guilt when he remarks, “And with thy bloody and invisible hand/ Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond/ Which keeps me pale” (3.3.48-50). Macbeth is scared by the blood of Duncan.
1. “Lady Macbeth is the real villain of Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth.” Do you agree? Lady Macbeth is a villain in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, about the battle of kingship in 17th centaury Scotland. But Lady Macbeth, driven by her ambition, is not the only harbinger of death. Macbeth is the real villain and Lady Macbeth is just a partner in crime, egging him on because of her desire to be Queen.
Macbeth hatches the plan, as he is in conversation with Lady Macbeth, he states, “When we have marked with blood those sleepy two”. Sleepy contains connotations of vulnerability and no use of self-defence, therefore meaning that the guards are helpless moreover Macbeth planning to frame them whilst at this vulnerable stage, infers the tyranny within. Aristotle’s theory on a Tragic Hero states that persuasion soon follows the self-indulgent of greatness. In this instance, his own wife, Lady Macbeth, convinces Macbeth to kill his best friend, Duncan. She insults his masculinity greatly, by calling him a coward.
Deceiving Characters In Macbeth: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the witches In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare there are many characters with appearances that are deceiving. The three characters that are deceiving are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the witches. Macbeth shows loyalty to King Duncan in the beginning of the play. Macbeth’s appearance is deceiving because later on in the play he ends up killing Duncan. Besides Macbeth, Lady Macbeth also shows her character is deceiving by planning how Duncan will be killed.
Macbeth responds, in brief, as a loyal thane to the Scottish king, but the prospect unnerves him. * The audience could see Macbeth’s ambition leading him to cursed thoughts which has been greatly *enforced and twisted* by the* malicious* witches. *The caution from the first apparition causes Macbeth to start a bloody massacre across England, killing families of people who may threaten his position. After this point in the play, we see *that *Macbeth* has* turn*ed* into a ruthless tyrant* in the hope of avoiding fate*, so desensitized to humanity that even the suicide of his wife *could not arouse grief from him. * All he could muster was* “She should have died hereafter”.
The devices make a suspenseful, shocking, spine-chilling play. This book is nothing short of ironic; Shakespeare uses the rhetorical device irony all threw Macbeth. For example the thane of Cawdor is killed over committing treason and treachery against the king, only to give the title to Macbeth who plans to commit worst things to the king. The king even goes on to state after killing the thane of Cawdor that “There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust” (I.IV.15). To then put his trust in Macbeth only to be betrayed by him.
The King announced “...For brave Macbeth…well he deserves that name…his brandished steel smoked with bloody execution.” This metaphor hints that Macbeth is a brave, heroic, merciless fighter; it also tells us that he has gained a good reputation, as he is receiving praise from the King. This ‘fame’ along with Lady Macbeth’s encouragement, brewed some cunning evil plans in his head. He wanted to kill King Duncan and frame the chamber guards for his murder, and ultimately, the kings very own sons, Malcolm and Donalbain. He did this so he could become even more powerful, and gain the title ‘King Macbeth.’ After Macbeth ‘takes the plunge’ and murders King Duncan, he is in a deep state of shock. He says “why do I yield to that suggestion, whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs.” He is revolted by his actions, and still can’t believe what he has done.
Within the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth sets off from being known as one of the bravest soldiers in Scotland to an appalling tyrant with his ambition getting the best of him. Macbeth is told of a prophecy by three witches early on in this tragedy and once the prophecy comes true, Macbeth is determined to become King, and he will kill anyone who tries to get in way. Obsessed with keeping his title as King, Macbeth puts his faith in the prophecies of the witches. He commits these horrible actions that he would never consider doing such as betraying friends and murder. Throughout the play, there are numerous images that drastically change from beginning to end.