During the last scene, Lady Macbeth expresses her guilt through a dream. Lady Macbeth says “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfume of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand, Oh! Oh! Oh!” (5, 1; 42). The causes of her death was the buildup of guilt in her.
(Mac 5.1. 38) The imaginary blood spots that behold Lady Macbeth's hands emphasize her intense feelings of remorse for the murder of Duncan. In the inception of the story, Lady Macbeth was dauntless and tranquil about the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, " tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." (Mac 3.2.
In the beginning, Macbeth seems to be against all the killings and violence, while Lady Macbeth pushes him to commit these acts. As the play progresses, the roles begin to shift when murder becomes easier for Macbeth, while Lady Macbeth begins to feel all the guilt. At the end of the play it is clear that Lady Macbeth has gone crazy over the guilt she bears, while Macbeth now kills without thinking.
Include the scene and the image along with your response Act 5, Scene 1 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 non can call Our power to account?—Yet who would have Thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. I chose this image and scene because it shows Lady Macbeth seeing a spot of blood on her hand that represents the murder and crimes that she has committed.
The points that will be argued are, that Lady Macbeth played a large role in the murder of King Duncan, The three witches planted the idea in Macbeth’s head, and that the murder of King Duncan was all Macbeths doing. In many ways, Lady Macbeth drives Macbeth to the murder and acts as more of a physical spur, as opposed to the witches who use a mental approach. She bullies him, uses emotional blackmail and knows he is morally sensitive so he must be pushed. She mocks his bravery and knows he is a warrior and will be insulted. When Macbeth is thinking about not going ahead with the plan she says, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; and, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man”.
I am the judge and I notice something really strange going on with Lady Macbeth, she is repeating herself and that is what guilty people do when they are hiding something. Lady Macbeth should be the one executed because she was behind every murder and everything bad that happened. When they invited Duncan to come over Lady Macbeth planned the murder before anyone else could. Lady Macbeth did not advise Macbeth to kill Duncan but she pushed him to kill him. Lady Macbeth always seemed quality because Lady Macbeth would get into a trance and relive the accident trying to wash the blood from her garments and hands proving the guilty conscience.
In Macbeth the word blood has several meanings to it. It is used as a symbol of honor, guilt, murder, life, and family; or it can simply be actual blood itself. Many people in this play have died by murder, except one; Lady Macbeth. In the end of the play she ended up taking her own life out of fear and guilt. Lady Macbeth is a coward.
The idea of being unable to cleanse the mind and the spirit is closely tied to the play’s themes of order and disorder and light and dark. The killing of Duncan has upset the spiritual order of the world and the ability to distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. This confusion is mirrored in the character of Macbeth who, quite literally, has replaced order with disorder on every level, including the spiritual order. This mirroring reinforces the themes of appearances not being what they seem, but also foreshadows the madness and suicide of Lady Macbeth, which is bound to flow from such an unnatural state of affairs. Consider Lady Macbeth’s pathos, reflected in her sleep-walking speeches, “out, damned spot”.
Monica Ellison ENG-3U1-02 Mrs. Medeiros Wednesday, October 27, 2010 “How Violence Leads to Guilt” In William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, symbolism is used multiple times to demonstrate the overall theme of violence. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses symbols of blood, sleep and hallucinations all to create a suspense that leads to violence which later leads to guilt. Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood to represent the guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel after the violence has occurred. Sleep is used to symbolize the innocence, purity, and peace of mind, and when Macbeth kills Duncan it displays how violence occurs with sleep. Lastly, the symbol of hallucinations represents the outcome of violence which later turns into
dark. Shakespeare uses the blood in the play to create gore, and to use as a symbol of guilt. The fates of immortal instruments is used to create tension in the play, and leads to many of the deaths in this play. Lastly, the light vs. dark is used to create the mood, tone and setting of each scene. Each of the three motifs mentioned have their own way to mix together to create the perfect