Theme in Macbethblood

Though only written in three weeks and full of loose ends, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is full of the lessons of life. There are also many themes included in this play, some being animals, clothing, darkness, and blood. Blood is one of the largest themes in the play. It’s used frequently but it is used for more than one metaphor. The use of blood is what gives the play feeling of foul play and darkness. It (blood) is woven all through the play.

"What bloody man is that?" (Act 1. Scene 2. Line 1).

In these, the opening words of the play's second scene, a sergeant then tells the story of Macbeth's heroic victories over Macdonwald and the King of Norway. The sergeant's telling of the story is in itself heroic, because his loss of blood has made him weak. Thus his blood and his heroism seem to enhance the picture of Macbeth as a hero. As Lady Macbeth plans to kill King Duncan, she calls upon the spirits of murder to

"make thick my blood; / Stop up the access and passage to remorse" (Act 1. Scene 5. Lines 43-44).

Lady Macbeth wants to poison her soul, so that she can kill without remorse. Just before he kills King Duncan, Macbeth is staring at the "dagger of the mind," and as he does so, thick drops of blood ap

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Here, the primary meaning of "your blood" is "your family," but Macbeth's metaphors also picture blood as a life-giving essence. Those examples were just up to the end of Act 2, which shows how much it’s involved in the play’s meaning.

In contrast, his wife thinks his obsession with blood shows that he's a coward.

In another second, blood appears as the precious clothing of a precious body, when Macbeth, justifying his killing of the grooms, describes the King's corpse:

"Here lay Duncan, / His silver skin laced with his golden blood" (Act 2. )

And he answers his own question:

"No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red" (Act 2. Telling Malcolm and Donalbain of their father's murder, Macbeth says,

"The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood / Is stopp'd; the very source of it is stopp'd" (Act 2. It is also used for more than one meaning in several instances. King Duncan was a good and kind man whose life naturally should have been cherished by everyone.

She means that now her hands are bloody, like his, but she would be ashamed to have a "white" -- bloodless and cowardly -- heart like his.

Approximate Word count = 950
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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