Though Macbeth's actions are bloody, they are inherently good; they are the result of putting down a rebellion. Even as a hero Macbeth profits from the death of others. Shakespeare constantly uses references to blood to instill fearful images of the horrors that are brought upon Scotland under the reign of Macbeth. "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before" (Act 2, scene 1, line 46-47). The image of blood is now reversed.
His greedy and power hungry wife, Lady Macbeth, assists him in devising plans to kill King Duncan and seize Scotland. The image of blood portrays the central idea and mood of Macbeth, guilt. There is a clear progression of the motif of blood from something brave, honorable and complimentary to something evil, shameful and full of guilt. At the beginning of Shakespeare’s Macbeth blood represents honor. Such as the enemy’s blood on Macbeth's sword after the war shows that he is a brave hero.
Macbeth quotes, “will it not be received/ When we have mark’d with blood those sleepy two/ Of his own chamber and used their very daggers/ That they have done’t? (1.7.75-79), stating that blood is beginning to literally represent guilt, rather then symbolically. By killing Duncan with the guard’s weapons and then smearing blood all over them, Macbeth is framing them, making them guilty by using Duncan’s blood. This quote also depicts Macbeth’s transition from a morally correct ruler to a corrupt and vicious murderer. Before hearing the witch’s prophecy, he was a virtuous and ethical person, but after hearing that he is destined for kingship, he goes on a murderous rampage to gain political power, completely disregarding his previous decency.
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth guilt strongly affects Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as it is shown through the emotions, the murder and the suicide. The changes of Macbeth’s emotions demonstrates how guilt develop within him. Through Macbeth aggressiveness he demonstrates the cause of his guilt. Macbeth, no longer acts like his past self, and violently kills Duncan. This betrayal that he demonstrates,
Shakespeare presents the flaws in Macbeth’s character using prophecies from the witches, juxtaposition in his soliloquys, and Lady Macbeth slowly manipulating him to do deeds that in the end lead to his demise. In Act 1 Scene 2 Shakespeare uses 2 characters talking about Macbeth to portray the idea that Macbeth is a loyal, brave and tenacious character and he uses imagery to show this. The sergeant tells us that Macbeth “with smok’d with bloody execution, like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage.” The imagery of “valour’s minion” is used to suggest that Macbeth is Valour’s favourite person and that he is the bravest person other than Valour himself. The imagery used to suggest that he is also a very violent person, able to commit acts that were perhaps disturbed is “smok’d with bloody execution.” This quote tells us that Macbeth is perhaps considered a violent person, but it is acceptable because it is for the King, therefore it is the right reason. In Act 2 Scene 1, just before Macbeth kills the King, we see signs of his psychological destruction when he hallucinates about the dagger.
Macbeth’s initial character portrayed him to be a man of nobility by being a military hero. However, due to the weird sister’s prophesies, Lady Macbeth’s manipulation and influences and man’s own ambition, Macbeth was led astray and under goes a change into a murderous tyrant. In the opening scenes of Macbeth, Macbeth is reported brave as he fought to defend Duncan against a rebellion. Macbeth’s loyalty and nobility is shown in the quote ‘which smok’d with bloody excetution’. This description describes Macebth’s sword killing the rebel MacDonald.
Blood has multifarious meanings while our main character Macbeth is an abyss of varying representations. At inauguration bloodshed and Macbeth seem honorable, as we proceed they represent treachery, and eventually blood becomes the inexterminable token of Macbeth’s guilt. Honorable bloodshed seems almost a perfect paradox, yet it retains its value in the world of contention and war. The bleeding soldier is simply a heroic symbol of honor in himself. To validate this point the soldier is basically being interrogated even though he is weakened by blood lost he continues to tell his story of hope and valiance, all the while needing attendance.
In this essay I will be comparing how power and control is portrayed in Shakespeare and heritage poetry. The play I will be using from Shakespeare will be Macbeth and the two heritage poems I will be using are Hawk Roosting and Ozymandias. William Shakespeare presents the ideas of power and control in Macbeth through Macbeth’s ambition to attain power. Macbeth acts as his own adversary shown through his paranoia and insecurity that ultimately leads him to be a corrupted individual because of his greediness to obtain more power. Shakespeare uses a good range of language devices to show Macbeths shifts in power throughout the play.
She says this while trying to cleanse herself of guilt in the form of blood. Along with guilt, blood is also used to symbolize betrayal. When Macbeth is informed that he will be King of Scotland, he immediately begins to plan his methods of attaining this position, including the murder of the present king Duncan. After having contemplated his alternative options, Macbeth’s imagination forces him to see a dagger with the handle towards his hand. This same dagger then appears to have blood on
At the beginning of the play Macbeth is a warrior that fights for freedom and what he believes in which is good. Captain brags about how great of a warrior Macbeth is when he is describing the battle Macbeth just fought in by saying, “For brave Macbeth […] And fixed his head upon our battlements”. (1.2.16-23). Macbeth fought against one of his enemies Macdonwald. He split him in half before he could get a word out.