FREE ESSAY ON MACBETH

MACBETH

Images of blood and water occur frequently throughout William Shakespeares Macbeth, the
significance of which should not be overlooked. Shakespeare uses these images to portray
the horror of the central action, Duncan's murder. The vibrant images of blood and water
also symbolize the unending guilt of the two protagonists, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The
blood and water represents their inability to erase the memory of Duncan's murder and the
impossibility of ridding their conscience of the unscrupulous deed they committed. The
blood of King Duncan becomes too powerful for any amount of water to rinse it clean from
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's hands. It overpowers their ability to forget their actions and
clear their consciences.
Duncan's blood on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's hands is symbolic of the evil crime that
they had committed. The blood on their hands is also representative of the guilt, which
could not be escaped. 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." (II, iii, 61) Illustrates how no amount of water could clean Macbeth's guilty
conscience. He imagines that all of the water from the ocean could not clean his hands of
the burden of guilt that weighed so heavily on his tormented mind. He pictures Duncan's
blood staining the entire ocean red. Immediately after murdering Duncan, Macbeth's guilt
is brought on much like a large gaping gash while Lady Macbeth's guilt is more like a
small cut that in time festers into a massive lesion. Lady Macbeth's remark wash this
filthy witness from your hand, " (I,ii, 47). This illustrates quite clearly that that she
has far less immediate guilt for the crime and rather more physical repugnance towards
her husband's blood stained hands.
" It will have blood they say; blood will have blood", (III,iv,122) Macbeth says this
knowing that the murder he committed must be avenged. The only logical conclusion that
can be drawn from this is that foresees his execution as the inevitable conclusion to his
evil deeds. This foreshadows his death and highlights how none of his efforts to wash his
hands clean of Duncan's murder succeed. The same symbol of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's
malicious actions not being washed away is brought out very clearly again in (V, ii, 17).
Angus says, Now does he feel His secret murders sticking on his hands. Angus knows very
well that the murders could not just simply be forgotten. He also knows that Macbeth
will, in time get what he deserves. He realizes that Macbeth can no more escape his fate
than assuage his guilt by washing the blood away.
"A little water clears us of this deed"(II, ii, 78). Lady Macbeth believes that as soon
as Duncan's blood is physically removed from their hands that their consciences would be
cleansed as well. She urges Macbeth, at all costs, not to think of the murder or they
will be driven mad, "These deeds must not be thought After these ways:so, it will make us
mad", (II, ii,34). Ironically, Lady Macbeth is the one overcome with obsessive thoughts
of Duncan's murder and these thoughts result in a mental collapse that ends in her
suicide.
The bloody hand reappears when Lady Macbeth hallucinates about trying to clean her hands
of Duncan's blood. She says Out, damned spot! out I say! ...Yet who would have thought
the old man to have had so much blood in him? (V, i, 38-43). Lady Macbeth becomes
overcome with grief and is driven mad. She tries to clear the imaginary blood off her
hands but all her efforts are in vain, "What! will these hands ne'er be clean? (V, i,
46). When she believes that she has succeeded in ridding herself of the 
stains of blood, she smells the odor of blood and comes to the inevitable conclusion that
the crime can never be forgotten, Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes
of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh! (V, i,52). The guilt of Duncan's
gruesome murder, although more present in Macbeth originally, grows in Lady Macbeth until
she begins having the same deranged visions of her hands getting bloodier and bloodier
and not ever coming clean regardless of how much she washes them. 
The blood and water in Macbeth may well play the most significant roll. It very
accurately illustrates through symbolism the unsuccessful efforts of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth to rid themselves of their guilty consciences. The blood clings to their hands
and makes them unable to forget the repulsive crimes they committed. The end of the play
carries the blood and water simile to its inevitable finale. Lady Macbeth's suicide is
directly a result of her inability to rid herself of the guilt and Macbeth's execution is
directly related to " blood will have blood", (III, iv,122).