To show the theme of corrupting power when it is unchecked, Shakespeare applies the motifs of blood in Macbeth to further the effect of this greed. The blood symbolizes the guilt of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, as it stains their conscience like blood on a white carpet. This motif appears from the begging, with the opening battle between the Scots and the Norwegian invaders. Macbeth's hallucinations of a bloody dagger portray the bloody course in which Macbeth is about to launch. The final outcome is the "stains of blood" which haunt Macbeth after Duncan's death and disturb Lady Macbeth's slumber.
             We become aware of Macbeth's violent and seemingly bloody actions in battle at the start of the first act. A captain reports to the King, "For brave Macbeth (well he deserve that name) Disdaining Fortune, with his bradinshed steel, Which smoked with bloody execution," (I.ii, 18-20). The reader has now been introduced to the idea that Macbeth is capable of bloody destruction, although in this scene it appears to be honorable because of the war. Macbeth is shown as a brave and honorable hero, which is ironic as King Duncan sings Macbeth's praises the day before Macbeth is to kill him with a bloody dagger.
             Before killing Duncan, Macbeth's mind is in an interesting state. Macbeth visualized a dagger floating in the air, covered with blood and pointed towards the king's chamber. This bloody knife, "Which was not so before. There's no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes," (II.i, 56-58) brings his conscience to justify the murderous he is about to perform, and again the blood is not take with a negative tone at this point. Here, the bloody dagger is encouraging him to perform the act rather than show the destructive nature (disrupting the Greater Chain of Being) of murdering Duncan.
             After the murder of Duncan, blood comes to symbo...