In the Shakespearean drama Macbeth, the protagonist, Macbeth, transforms from a respected warrior to a power-hungry, paranoid oppressor. Act III, scene iv takes place during a banquet, where Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, whom he murdered. In this scene, Shakespeare utilises figurative language, motifs, and dialogue between Macbeth and his wife to convey Macbeth’s clear mental deterioration through his desire to gain power immorally. In the banquet scene, Shakespeare uses the unique dialogue of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to portray Macbeth’s declining mental state. Towards the beginning of the scene, Macbeth is able to stay composed, speaking in clear, full sentences. However, once his hallucinations worsen, he can't maintain himself. Macbeth …show more content…
Macbeth’s murders of his two friends plague him. The motif of blood appears at the end of the scene when Macbeth says “I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (Act III, Scene IV, lines 136-138). Macbeth has gone so far, murdering two people, that he believes it is easier to carry on murdering people than to turn back late. By stating “I am in blood”, he refers to the immense guilt Macbeth feels after his murders, and how he can’t escape it. “It will have blood, they say. Blood will have blood./ Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak./Augurs and understood relations have/ By maggot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth/ The secret’st man of blood.” (Act III, Scene IV, lines 122-126). Macbeth’s paranoia goes so far that he believes the dead, Banquo and Duncan, will resurrect and get revenge for what he has done. Macbeth feels so guilty of the murders that he has committed. Macbeth, by saying “By maggot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth/ The secret’st man of blood.” This implies that even the craftiest of murderers, which Macbeth sees himself as, have been exposed by these birds. The massive guilt expressed makes Macbeth believe that it is a a non-realistic, fictional situation. He has become insane, from his overload of insecurity. The paranoia and guilt
The image of blood plays an important role throughout the play. Blood represents the murders Macbeth and Lady Macbeth committed along with the guilt and pain they’ve felt afterwards. When Macbeth murdered King Duncan, he was fearful of getting caught. “Will Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?” (2.2.59-60) Later, Macbeth refuses to go back to the crime scene to smear the blood on the sleeping guards because he was afraid of being accused.
When Shakespeare first introduces Macbeth, he automatically is displayed as a fierce, gruesome general. Blood represents his beneficial doing. Captain quotes, “... with bloody execution... he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops, and fixed his head upon our battlements” (I.ii.20). Macbeth slashes Macdonwald, a traitor, from his belly to his jaw, and decapitates him.
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth see more and more imaginary blood as the time goes on in the play, they feel guilty for what they have done and the blood is a
Macbeth realizes that he will have to face consequences in this quote because blood is being used to show death and how Macbeth’s life will be taken in exchange for the assassination of Banquo. Therefore, William Shakespeare uses blood to show Macbeth's guilt towards the murders of Duncan and
Through the eyes of Macbeth, blood is a stain of guilt that one can not remove. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the motif of blood is symbolic of fear, guilt, power and represents the theme, ambition kills. The motif of blood reoccurs continuously in Shakespear’s Macbeth, but does not lose its importance. As the play becomes more somber and gruesome, blood is mentioned more frequently.
Macbeth And His Schizophrenia Picture this: a world full of witches, prophecies, and bloodshed. Welcome to William Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Macbeth. Some may argue that Macbeth's erratic behavior and hallucinations throughout the play are signs of schizophrenia. However, a closer examination reveals that Macbeth's actions and psychological state are better understood within the framework of guilt, ambition, and moral deterioration. This essay will argue that Macbeth has schizophrenia and show how his character represents the tragic consequences of a flawed individual driven by his ambitions and inner demons.
In Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth is consumed by guilt and haunted by the visions of the people he has killed, including Banquo and Lady Macduff. He exclaims, "I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (3.4.136-138).
As the play nears the end blood plays a less prevalent role in Macbeth’s character to represent that Macbeth’s morality is completely shot. He has nowhere to turn, he has a loss of all feeling, and his life has become completely meaningless. His wife has begun to sleepwalk saying, “What, will these hands neer be clean? Heres the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of / Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (5.1.40, 46-47)
5-7). In this instance, Macbeth shows that he can feel guilt, and he exhibits this by demonstrating that he does not desire to end the life of a man whose family was already victimized at his hands. Guilt is the one thing throughout the entire play that stops Macbeth dead in his tracks and causes him to take a moment to consider his present and future courses of action. Although Macbeth was lead to commit murder by the witches’ manipulative predictions of the future, he is the one who ultimately makes the choices that prove that he is in control of his actions, even when his actions cause him to be filled with
Macbeth’s guilt and battle with mental illness begins early within the play: right after the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth, once a loyal sergeant in Duncan’s army, has killed the king in order to possess the throne of Scotland. This act of such extreme measures begins Macbeth’s descent into madness and insomnia. Immediately after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says, “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.”
Shakespeare uses the recurring symbol of blood to emphasize the effect of death and violence on the human psyche. The connotation that Macbeth associates with blood switches from a primary motivator to a guilty reminder. Prior to Duncan’s murder, Macbeth witnessed a floating dagger covered with blood (II.i.33). Macbeth had experienced violence and Blood is also used as a reminder of the guilt and trauma from the murder of King Duncan, the guards and Banquo. Macbeth refers to his hallucination of the ghost of Banquo: “It will have blood, they say.
This passage clearly exemplifies how blood can be deceiving being seen in a heroic light only later to be a dark burden on the Macbeth’s. Lastly, Shakespeare shows the reader how blood deceives lady Macbeth by being able to be cleaned off easily at first but then weighing her down with the guilt and responsibility of her actions. Lady Macbeth later realizes bloodshed’s misleading nature and eventually goes insane trying to cleanse her soul saying, “Out damned spot, out, I say! One.
Mental Stability in Macbeth As Erma Bombeck once said, “Guilt: is the gift that keeps on giving” (“A Quote by Erma Bombeck”). In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, guilt plays an enormous role in the development of Macbeth’s descent into madness. Macbeth is about Macbeth being persuaded by Lady Macbeth into committing heinous crimes, and it all started when Macbeth tells her about premonitions three witches gave him. In pursuit of making those premonitions come true, Macbeth kills King Duncan, which scares his children, Malcolm and Donalbain out of the country, allowing Macbeth to become King.
Blood is something most people see as gruesome and disturbing, and not something ordinary people enjoy to be in the presence of. In the play Macbeth, the playwright William Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to expose a character's thoughts and personality. Blood is an important motif constantly shown throughout the play. Macbeth, the main character, thinks he can advance to the throne without any consequences. Blood exemplifies the guilt he is now stuck with, and due to Macbeth's excessive ambition, and overwhelming guilt, he is now faced with the consequences.
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III.4.142–4). Hence, by using the words blood and tentative language Macbeth recognizes that he is far into his wrongdoings. His recognition is a redeemable quality most villains do not possess, and it shows that he is just trying to make the best of his situation to prevent anything worse from happening. Thus showing that he isn’t an absolute villain and feels some remorse for his wrongdoings.