William Shakespeare's "Macbeth,"" depicts the story of a very ambitious man. At the beginning of the play, three witches prophesied that Macbeth would become King of Scotland. Macbeth shares this news with his wife Lady Macbeth who convinces him to participate in cold-blooded actions in order to get the crown. It is these actions that allow both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to suffer severe consequences. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the imagery of blood is employed to employed to emphasized both Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's state of guilt. This is significant because it enables the reader to understand the ultimate downfall of both characters. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth guilt is apparent when Macbeth kills the king (Duncan), hallucinates over Banquo's ghost and Lady Macbeth's inability to sleep.
Blood represents guilt, as it is a significant form of imagery in the play. Blood also represents murder, which result in guilt of the character in Macbeth. Macbeth is a man with strong morals but as the story progresses Macbeth's morality lessened immensely. Macbeth and Duncan are very good friends until Macbeth discovery of the potentials of him becoming king. His wife into murdering Duncan convinces Macbeth. At first Macbeth is hesitant to commit the crime but as a result of his wife constant persistence, he ends up murdering Duncan. As the crime is completed, Macbeth proceeds to his life and shows great remorse saying, "Will the Great Neptune's ocean wash the blood/ clean from my hand? No, thy hand would rather/ the multitudinous seas in carradine/ making the green on red"" (Shakespeare II.2.63-66). Macbeth feels guilty towards the death of Duncan and is seeking for the oceans to wash his hands clean, but instead Macbeth knows that rather he will stain the water red from the blood in his hands. Here the blood shows an image of guilt. It also represents Macbeth remorse towards killing Duncan who trusted him.