As the play progresses we are introduced to Lady Macbeth. The audience see that she is already an insane and controlling character. 'Have pluk’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed his brains out'. The fact that she has already breast feed a baby before makes her character look and sound even more evil. The audience also see that she is becoming more of a ruthless character. Although there is no direct reference to blood, Shakespeare has used violent language in order to help create an image of this happening. Lady Macbeth is loosing her womanly instincts in order to prove that she is capable of acting violent. Lady Macbeth also says in order to prove to Macbeth that she is violent enough 'make thick my blood’. Thick blood was seen to be powerful. She wants to have thick blood to be powerful; she is willing to poison her blood in order to be aggressive. She is also making a point of that she will achieve or try to achieve whatever she wants. 'Unsex me'. Lady Macbeth wants to become brutal and violent so she doesn’t want to be like a weak woman she wants to in control so she wants be more like a powerful man.
The turning point in the play, in terms of change for the two main characters occurs when King Duncan is murdered and as a result of this the audience starts to doubt whether Macbeth is really a hero. Usually murder is associated with blood and for that reason from this point onward in the play Macbeth isn’t really a hero or brave he becomes a guilty, murderous person. This is starting to change the audiences view on the character of Macbeth. Nevertheless Lady Macbeth isn’t totally innocent herself because she plays an immense role in helping Macbeth mentally and physically to kill the king Duncan.
The theme of blood so far has been used to symbolise the development of the two main characters: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Eventually when Duncan is murdered, blood is then represented as guilt, murder and treason. This helps Macbeth’s character to change from feeling like a hero to feeling guilty. The audience notice this when Macbeth is shaken by what he has done. 'Here lay Duncan, his silver skin lac’d with his golden blood.' The colours describe a trophy, this creates an image of Duncan lying there and Macbeth sees that this is a victorious moment and a trophy. Macbeth listens to the witches and they say that Banquo’s son Fleance would become king so he hires two men to kill them. Although they managed to kill Banquo, Fleance escaped. For that reason later on in the play Macbeth has royal banquet and Banquo’s appears in front of him. Lady Macbeth then takes charge. Macbeth starts to have mental problems; ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand.' Here Macbeth is having visions of what he did to Duncan. This has a huge impact on the audiences view on Macbeth’s character. Further on in the play Lady Macbeth also has mental Problems of her own.
'Here’s the smell of blood still all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.' Here Shakespeare uses a hyperbole to make Lady Macbeth sound as if she desperate to get rid of blood off her hands. In a result Lady Macbeth thinks that there is blood on her hand and she can’t get the blood off her hands. The audience see that blood from this point in the play is mainly shown as guilt for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Since Macbeth starts to have mental problems he goes to the witches once more and they tell him to be aware of Macduff and as a result of this Macbeth take action, going on a killing spree in Macduff’s castle. He kills everyone close to Macduff inside his castle. This shows that Shakespeare has involved death and blood together to help the audience understand how Macbeth’s emotion has changed, and also how Macbeth takes this level of action. Just to keep his rein of kingdom over Scotland. Lady Macbeth eventually becomes racked with guilt from the crimes she and her husband have committed she tries to wash imaginary bloodstains from her hands, she sleepwalks and, all the while speaking of the terrible things she knows.
As a result of Macbeth’s killing spree Macduff becomes furious and gathers an army to invade Scotland together with Malcolm, Duncan’s elder son. A battle commences when Macduff confront Macbeth. Shakespeare uses violence within this battle to create an image of this happening; he also helps to create an understanding of the audience’s view of the battle.
Shakespeare provides us with a gripping, sensationalized, tragic play surrounded by ambition, deception, and guilt. Emphasis of the positive influence by supernatural elements surmises an eventual downfall for the main characters: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The play was written using a variety of literary techniques. The word blood appears 42 times within the play. Shakespeare uses this to theme the play around blood and to develop the two main characters; Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
