Macbeth Essay

             William Shakespeare's Macbeth depicts the story of a noble whose ambitions eventually lead him to become king of England, but also ultimately causes his downfall. Shakespeare portrays the usually positive virtue of aspiration and turns it into the hero's tragic flaw. Along the way, Shakespeare uses blood as a motif to show death, guilt, and the loss of innocence.
             Initially, blood holds a literal meaning. For example, in Act 1 scene 2, Duncan asks, "What bloody man is that?" He asks the name of the bloodstained man who just entered. The blood most likely stems from the soldiers that had stained Malcolm while he fought. Additionally, in Act 1 scene 2, the Captain makes his departing remarks by saying, "Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds ... I cannot tell- but I am faint. My gashes cry from help." When the Captain mentions 'they', he means the other captains, Macbeth and Banquo. Although the Captain does not say the specific word 'blood', he portrays a mental image when he describes the reeking wounds of the captains, dripping of blood. When the captain speaks about his own wounds or 'gashes', the image of blood gushing from the body becomes visible. Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of this motif is found in the same scene when the Captain informs the king, "For brave Macbeth, disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution." This paints the picture of Macbeth killing his enemies in a 'bloody execution', depicting a very gruesome beheading. In all of the above examples, blood refers to the substance, the actual liquid itself. However, blood eventually holds a different meaning.
             The motif of blood eventually portrays the idea of guilt. Guilt comes into Macbeth's life after he murders King Duncan. When Lady Macbeth leaves to frame the bodyguards for the murder, Macbeth says in Act 2 scene 2, "Will...

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