Often labeled one of Shakespeare’s most lethal and sinister plays, Macbeth is a drama so praiseworthy that is able to perfectly absorb and embody the greatest fears of its time period, and then instill them back into its audience, frightening them even greater than they were before. Above all, Shakespeare valued a good story, and the witches, traitors, and deceit that was prevalent throughout the play all served to captivate the audience and touch on topics that everyone would be aware of.
By opening his play so such a wide audience, Shakespeare was able to impact everyone from the royals to the peasants. Within the plethora of independent battles in the play itself, there is one recurring clash in particular that serves a specific purpose without which, the novel would be no where near complete. The constant combat between blood and water as illustrations of guilt and purity in Macbeth makes it a tragedy capable of revealing the true repercussions of cupidity. Initially, blood acts as the quintessential example of honor and passion.
As King Duncan is brought into the military camp to discuss his troops’ progress in the battles with the Irish attackers, he is greeted by a heavily wounded captain, who is eager to describe the spoils of war. Without wasting a breath, he reveres the glorious Macbeth, who “disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, / which smoked with bloody execution, / Like Valor’s minion, carved out his passage” (9). The awe and admiration that the captain has for Macbeth can be attributed to his relentlessness on the battlefield.
The fervor with which he delineates Macbeth can be compared to no other, and his invigorating speech continues to be seen throughout the rest of the scene. In fact, it seems the news of Macbeth’s victory is so contagious that the zeal the captain is feeling spreads to the rest of the characters as well. The comparison that was made to Valor’s minion served to expose Macbeth’s extreme bravery, as valor is bravery in itself, and the fact that Macbeth was its follower could not have been a higher compliment. Perhaps the highest praise that the captain had endowed upon Macbeth though, came through his comment about the blood.
The comment about the bloody execution itself is so powerful, in fact, that is able to simultaneously arouse the involvement of all the senses in the reader. It becomes almost impossible to suppress images of Macbeth on the battlefield—the “smoked” and humid air around him—clashing with the warm blood coursing through his victims. This blood then becomes the ultimate meal, and Macbeth is visibly hungry. For now, there is no higher prize than taking blood, and the quick and “choppy” pace of the scene represents the adrenaline that is swarming the air around the characters. However, all of these moods are transient.
When Duncan appoints Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, he is taking the position of power from one traitor, and entrusting it in Macbeth. This suggests that he too could soon turn on Duncan, and become a renegade as well. As quickly as blood’s positive connotation was earlier developed, its evanescent moment in the limelight swiftly transforms it into one with abhorrent implications. When Duncan travels to Macbeth’s estate in Inverness, he consequently-quite literally-places his fate in Macbeth’s hands. The treason becomes apparent when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deliberate their future.
She says that he can become king simply by murdering Duncan, and scoffs at his indecisiveness. After the deed is done, it becomes truly apparent to Macbeth the horrors of his actions, and he cries out in despair: “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? ” (59). At this point, the betrayal that was hinted at from the very beginning of the play comes to fruition. It becomes almost effortless for the reader to share in the franticness felt by Macbeth, as he is consumed by a myriad feelings that overtake him and leave him utterly flummoxed-at least for a short period of time.
Within his panic, he comes to the conclusion that he has so much blood on his hands that not even the great Neptune—the sea god in Roman mythology, would be able so gather enough water to remove the evidence from his hands. Now, symbol that has so faithfully represented honor is completely turned around to represent never-ending guilt. However, in this case, the fright turns out to be nothing more than a temporary scare. His behavior, although incorrigible, is one that allows him to be very easily influenced by outside forces.
In this instance, Lady Macbeth is able to ameliorate his fears by showing him that water truly does get rid of the guilt, by retorting, “a little water clears us of this deed” and asserting that it is as simple as that. (59) Nevertheless, this action cannot be overlooked. This water is actually there to symbolize the purity that Macbeth is quickly losing. Compared to the beginning, the positive connotation that blood used to have is quickly receding, only to have its niche filled with the emerging symbol of purity portrayed by water.
The clash between purity and guilt intensifies in this battle of blood versus water, where either one seemingly has the potential to claim the role of victor. Still, this concept of right against wrong reveals how intertwined both of them actually are, and makes one wonder to what extent one is controlled by the other? What this interaction does do though, is set the stage for much graver events later on in the performance, where the deleterious consequence of Macbeth’s actions are once and for all brought to light.
The true wrath and sheer destructive force that blood represents scream out in the last section of Macbeth. Out in the king’s castle, a doctor is brought in to evaluate Lady Macbeth’s mental status. He is warned of the antics she has performed over the last couple of nights, but remains incredulous. To his dismay, an unsteady Lady Macbeth finally appears before him. Even more unanticipated is the “extemporized speech” that she performs for him.
She seems to blare out, to no one in particular, “Out, damned spot, out I say! / [… Yet who would have thought the old man/ to have so much blood in him? (V. i. 37, 41-42) Finally, blood can be dubbed victor over water, and all that it represents. The guilt that Lady Macbeth has cannot be suppressed, and ultimately ends up consuming her and Macbeth both. Furthermore, her delirious state is so apparent that it is clearly distinguishable just by the way she speaks. Without any knowledge whatsoever of what she is saying, the fact that she breaks a pattern so established throughout the play makes her outburst truly one of a kind.
As opposed to the rest of the play, where Lady Macbeth-along with the rest of the main characters—talk in verse, this instance sees her completely break off that familiar approach. The pressured and impromptu style that she adapts displays how the guilt has overtaken even the most deep-seated aspects of her behavior. Ironically, earlier on in the play, Lady Macbeth takes it upon herself to remind Macbeth after Duncan’s murder how simple it is so forget about the deed. Now, even she has found herself trapped in this game for blood that has slowly become her new life.
If there is anything to be taken from this whole ordeal, it is that life is only as unpredictable as one allows it to be. Had Macbeth gained content after his appointment as Thane of Cawdor, he would not have ended up needing to run away from death. Ironically however, all of his ventures were bringing him even closer to meeting his eventual downfall. His insatiable avarice compels him to keep going further and leaves him beleaguered with more than he can handle. As the meaning of blood slowly starts to waiver throughout the play, so do Macbeth’s priorities.
In fact, the two can actually be juxtaposed, as the more vile blood gets in its meaning, the more one can see Macbeth slowly becoming “unhinged” from his daily life, and resorting to the predictions from the witches. A big talking point in the production is how heavily Macbeth was controlled by the witches, or, conversely, how much free will he has. Had he paved his own way forward, Macbeth would have had limitless possibilities before him but alas, the state of his fate throughout the piece remains largely up in the air, leaving heaps of room for personal interpretations and suppositions.
