I am going to prove that in the play
Macbeth, a symbol of blood is portrayed often(and with
different meanings), and that it is a symbol that is developed
until it is the dominating theme of the play towards the end of
it. To begin with, I found the word "blood", or different
forms of it forty-two times (ironically, the word fear is used
forty-two times), with several other passages dealing with
the symbol. Perhaps the best way to show how the symbol
of blood changes throughout the play, is to follow the
character changes in Macbeth. First he is a brave honoured
soldier, but as the play progresses, he becomes a
treacherous person who has become identified with death
and bloodshed and shows his guilt in different forms. The
first reference of blood is one of honour, and occurs when
Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says "What bloody
man is that?". This is symbolic of the brave fighter who been
injured in a valiant battle for his country. In the next passage,
in which the sergeant says "Which smok'd with bloody
execution", he is referring to Macbeth's braveness in which
his sword is covered in the hot blood of the enemy. After
these few references to honour, the symbol of blood now
changes to show a theme of treachery and treason. Lady
Macbeth starts this off when she asks the spirits to "make
thick my blood,". What she is saying by this, is that she
wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the
deeds which she is about to commit. Lady Macbeth knows
that the evidence of blood is a treacherous symbol, and
knows it will deflect the guilt from her and Macbeth to the
servants when she says "smear the sleepy grooms with
blood.", and "If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms
withal, for it must seem their guilt." When Banquo states
"and question this most bloody piece of work," and Ross
says "is't known who did this more than bloody deed?", they
are both inquiring as to who performed the treacherous acts
upon Duncan. When Macbeth is speaking about Malcolm
and Donalbain, he refers to them as "bloody cousins" A final
way, and perhaps the most vivid use of the symbol blood, is
of the theme of guilt. First Macbeth hints at his guilt when he
says "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean
from my hand?", meaning that he wondered if he would ever
be able to forget the dastardly deed that he had committed.
Then the ghost of Banquo, all gory, and bloody comes to
haunt Macbeth at the banquet. The sight of apparitions
represents his guilt for the murder of Banquo which he
planned. Macbeth shows a bit of his guilt when he says "It is
the bloody business which informs thus," he could not get the
courage to say murder after he had killed Duncan, so he
says this instead. Lady Macbeth shows the most vivid
example of guilt using the symbol of blood in the scene in
which she walks in her sleep. She says "Out damned spot!
Out I say! One: two: why then 'tis time to do't: hell is murky.
Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear
who knows it when none can call out power to account?
Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so
much blood in him?". This speech represents the fact that
she cannot wipe the blood stains of Duncan off of her hands.
It is ironic, that she says this, because right after the murder,
when Macbeth was feeling guilty, she said "A little water
clears us of this deed." When the doctor of the castle finds
out about this sleepwalking, he tells Macbeth "As she is
troubled with thick-coming fantasies,". What this means, is
that Lady Macbeth is having fantasies or dreams that deal
with blood. Macbeth knows in his mind that she is having
troubles with her guilt, but does not say anything about it.
Just before the ending of the play, Macbeth has Macduff at
his mercy, and lets him go, because of his guilt. He shows
that he is guilty, when he says "But get thee back, my soul is
too much charg'd with blood of thine already.". Of which,
Macduff replies, "I have no words, my voice is in my sword,
thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out." After the
death of Macbeth at the hands of Macduff, the symbolic
theme of blood swings back to what it was at the beginning
of the play. It is the symbol of honour to Malcolm this time.
The death of Macbeth is honoured feat that Macduff is
congratulated for. So as we have seen meaning of the
symbol of blood change from honour to treachery, and then
to guilt, after this, it returns to the symbolic meaning of
honour once again after the villain that changed the meaning
from honour to tyranny is killed. Due to these many changes,
it has been proved that the symbol of blood has many
different meanings which can be attributed to it throughout
the course of this play.