Macbeth Blood EssayEssay Preview: Macbeth Blood EssayReport this essay“What bloody man is that?” in these, the opening words of the plays second scene, King Duncan asks about a sergeant. The sergeant then tells the story of Macbeths heroic victories over Macdonwald and the King of Norway. The sergeants 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.” Thin blood was considered wholesome, and it was thought that poison made blood thick. Lady Macbeth wants to poison her own soul, so that she can kill without remorse.
Macbeth says “this is a sorry sight”, looking at his bloody hands moments after he has murdered King Duncan. His wife thinks thats a stupid thing to say, and when she notices that he has brought the bloody daggers from King Duncans room, she thinks hes even more stupid. She tells him that he must take the daggers back, place them with the Kings sleeping guards, and cover them with the Kings blood. Macbeth, however, is so shaken that all he can do is stand and stare at his bloody hands, so Lady Macbeth takes the daggers from him. When she goes to do the job she thinks he should do, Macbeth still stands and stares. He asks himself if all the water in the world can wash away the blood “will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” and he answers his own question, “no, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”
His wife thinks his obsession with blood shows that hes a coward. She dips her hands in the dead Kings blood, and covers the guards with the blood, then tells Macbeth that “my hands are of your color; but I shame to wear a heart so white.” She means that now her hands are bloody, like his, but she would be ashamed to have a bloodless and cowardly heart like his. She leads him away to wash his hands, and she seems quite sure that a little water clears them of the deed they have done. Ironically, when she later goes mad, she sees blood on her hands that she cannot wash away, no matter how much water she uses.
Telling Malcolm and Donalbrain of their fathers murder, Macbeth says “the spring, the head, the fountain of your blood is stopped; the very source of it is stopped.” Here, the primary meaning of “your blood” is “your family,” but Macbeths metaphors also picture blood as a life giving essence. A second later, blood is spoken of as a sign of guilt. Lennox says that it appears that the King was murdered by his body guards, because they were covered in blood. In another second, blood appears as the precious clothing of a precious body, when Macbeth, justifying his killing of the guards, describes the Kings dead body as “here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden blood.” Then Donalbain says to his brother “the near in blood, the nearer bloody,” meaning that as the murdered Kings sons, they are likely to be murdered themselves.
Its strangely dark on the morning after the night of King Duncans murder, and Ross says to an old man “ah, good father, thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with mans act, threaten his bloody stage.” The “stage” is this earth, where we humans play out our lives. Because of Duncans murder, the stage is bloody and the heavens are angry. Moments later, Macduff enters and Ross asks him “ist known who did this more than bloody deed?” The deed is more than bloody because it is unnatural. The King Duncan was a good and kind man whose life naturally should have been cherished by everyone.
Macbeth appears as King of Scotland mentions to Banquo in a seemingly casual way that Malcolm and Donalbain, “our bloody cousins,” are in England and Ireland where they are denying that they killed their father. By referring to them as “bloody”, Macbeth wants to emphasize their guilt. After Banquo leaves, Macbeth arranges for his murder. Macbeth tells his wife that by nightfall a deed will done which will release them from their fear of Banquo. Then he calls upon night to come and “with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond which keeps me pale!” The “great bond” is Banquos lease on life. A man becomes pale with fear or worry because the blood drains away from his face.
Macbeth believes that if Banquos blood is shed, his own blood will return, and he wont be pale anymore. After he has become king, Macbeth gives a banquet for his noblemen. The banquet has barely begun when Macbeth has to go to the door to speak with first murderer. “Theres blood on thy face,” he says and the murderer proudly tells him its Banquos blood, and that he left Banquo in a ditch with “twenty trenched gashes on his head,” all deadly. A little later, just as Macbeth is talking about how much he wishes that Banquo were at the banquet, Banquos Ghost appears. Macbeth says to the ghost, “thou canst not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me.” The ghosts “gory locks” are the locks of his hair, covered with clotted blood. After the ghost has gone, Macbeth tells himself that its not his fault that the ghost showed up.
He says that men have been killing men for a long time, since before there were even laws against it; “blood hath been shed ere now, I the olden time, ere human statute purged the gentle weal.” Its a natural thing to shed blood; whats not natural is that now the dead “rise again, with twenty mortal murders on their crowns, and push us from our stools.” After saying this, Macbeth recovers himself, returns to his guests and proposes a toast in honor of Banquo. At that, the Ghost of Banquo reappears. This time, Macbeth tries to drive it away with words, “avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee! thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold.” Macbeth is making sure that the Ghost knows that it belongs in the grave because it is dead. Perhaps the ghost actually listens to Macbeth, because it soon leaves again.
[Footnote: “Behold, with a little to drink, the dead man returns to take his rightful place as King. And behold, to this day he shall not appear again, because he hath had a mortal’s curse for a long time.” (Proverbs 1:28)—the same verse is used).
[Footnote: “It is said, ‘And this day the King shall depart from his throne; the dead man shall not appear again.]” (Exodus 26:31)—the same verse is used).
[Footnote: “And now, King, when we hear of a man that he might have fled into the land of Canaan, let him return to his host.” (Genesis 29:26)—a similar verse. Also, “If some of you will go, they will surely be judged before the king: for, if you make haste to go, ye too will fail to be a partaker of the Lord God.'”)
[Footnote: “Because some, if they have taken refuge in the desert, go, and others not; for they will fall into the hands of Satan; and none shall say to you, I went out to kill you, but I went out for the Lord; and I came unto thee with the sword of my sword, which I saw before me.” (Genesis 18:20)—another similar, “What now, that I must go?”)
[Footnote: “Now ye may be taken aback to discover, that the ghost is in the country where Adam was murdered. He is in the country, where the dead person is dead-that is, in the country where he dwells and dwelleth in. It is there that his family are slain and his home is laid for him. Those who have stayed there for one or two years have been cast out.”).
[Footnote: “The ghost is there, but no one can know the person whom he or she left behind. Thus the townspeople are the dead. And Satan has taken these that lay before him from his country.”)
[Footnote: “Many have fled forth in great numbers; and many have been dead; and many have run in the night under the trees, where they are hiding. And they are still alive, and he may know them no more.”—the same verse in Genesis 39:9.)
[Footnote: “And that he may know the people who remain after this, he is sure they will be judged first with great fire and with light.”—the same verse in Genesis 44:22—the same one in Romans 3:4—”for to say, If some are left here to stand idle, they will die in the land where I went before, and they shall be judged with fair fire.”)
[Footnote: “Behold, with a little to drink, the dead man returns to take his rightful place as King. And behold, to this day he shall not appear again, because he hath had a mortal’s curse for a long time.” (Proverbs 1:28)—the same verse is used).
[Footnote: “It is said, ‘And this day the King shall depart from his throne; the dead man shall not appear again.]” (Exodus 26:31)—the same verse is used).
[Footnote: “And now, King, when we hear of a man that he might have fled into the land of Canaan, let him return to his host.” (Genesis 29:26)—a similar verse. Also, “If some of you will go, they will surely be judged before the king: for, if you make haste to go, ye too will fail to be a partaker of the Lord God.’”)
[Footnote: “Because some, if they have taken refuge in the desert, go, and others not; for they will fall into the hands of Satan; and none shall say to you, I went out to kill you, but I went out for the Lord; and I came unto thee with the sword of my sword, which I saw before me.” (Genesis 18:20)—another similar, “What now, that I must go?”)
[Footnote: “Now ye may be taken aback to discover, that the ghost is in the country where Adam was murdered. He is in the country, where the dead person is dead-that is, in the country where he dwells and dwelleth in. It is there that his family are slain and his home is laid for him. Those who have stayed there for one or two years have been cast out.”).
[Footnote: “The ghost is there, but no one can know the person whom he or she left behind. Thus the townspeople are the dead. And Satan has taken these that lay before him from his country.”)
[Footnote: “Many have fled forth in great numbers; and many have been dead; and many have run in the night under the trees, where they are hiding. And they are still alive, and he may know them no more.”—the same verse in Genesis 39:9.)
[Footnote: “And that he may know the people who remain after this, he is sure they will be judged first with great fire and with light.”—the same verse in Genesis 44:22—the same one in Romans 3:4—”for to say, If some are left here to stand idle, they will die in the land where I went before, and they shall be judged with fair fire.”)
[Footnote: “Behold, with a little to drink, the dead man returns to take his rightful place as King. And behold, to this day he shall not appear again, because he hath had a mortal’s curse for a long time.” (Proverbs 1:28)—the same verse is used).
[Footnote: “It is said, ‘And this day the King shall depart from his throne; the dead man shall not appear again.]” (Exodus 26:31)—the same verse is used).
[Footnote: “And now, King, when we hear of a man that he might have fled into the land of Canaan, let him return to his host.” (Genesis 29:26)—a similar verse. Also, “If some of you will go, they will surely be judged before the king: for, if you make haste to go, ye too will fail to be a partaker of the Lord God.’”)
[Footnote: “Because some, if they have taken refuge in the desert, go, and others not; for they will fall into the hands of Satan; and none shall say to you, I went out to kill you, but I went out for the Lord; and I came unto thee with the sword of my sword, which I saw before me.” (Genesis 18:20)—another similar, “What now, that I must go?”)
[Footnote: “Now ye may be taken aback to discover, that the ghost is in the country where Adam was murdered. He is in the country, where the dead person is dead-that is, in the country where he dwells and dwelleth in. It is there that his family are slain and his home is laid for him. Those who have stayed there for one or two years have been cast out.”).
[Footnote: “The ghost is there, but no one can know the person whom he or she left behind. Thus the townspeople are the dead. And Satan has taken these that lay before him from his country.”)
[Footnote: “Many have fled forth in great numbers; and many have been dead; and many have run in the night under the trees, where they are hiding. And they are still alive, and he may know them no more.”—the same verse in Genesis 39:9.)
[Footnote: “And that he may know the people who remain after this, he is sure they will be judged first with great fire and with light.”—the same verse in Genesis 44:22—the same one in Romans 3:4—”for to say, If some are left here to stand idle, they will die in the land where I went before, and they shall be judged with fair fire.”)
Macbeth then wonders why the sight of the ghost hasnt driven the blood from everyones face. He asks them how “you can behold such sights, and keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, when mine is blanched with fear.” Apparently he doesnt realize that only he has seen the ghost. Finally, after all the guests are gone, Macbeth says “they say, blood will have blood.” The saying means that