blood

• Once Macbeth and Lady Macbeth embark upon their murderous journey, blood comes to symbolize their guilt, and they begin to feel that their crimes have stained them in a way that cannot be washed clean
• Guilt: Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves
• After killing Duncan, Macbeth laments that not even all of “Neptune’s ocean” would be enough to clean his hands. The blood on Macbeth’s hands symbolizes the guilt he feels for murdering Duncan
• Murder: Blood is everywhere in “Macbeth”, beginning with the opening battle between the Scots and the Norwegian invaders
• The bloodiness of the battle symbolizes the brutality of the war and a latent ruthlessness in Macbeth’s nature.
• Horror: The sight of blood contributes to the atmosphere of horror in the play
• When Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger floating in front of him in the castle, the blood on the tip symbolizes Duncan’s impending murder and the guilt that will plague Macbeth for the rest of the play.
• “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?” 
• “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! . . . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.”


  • Lady Macbeth speaks these words at the end of the play, wandering around the castle in a delirium trying to wash out an invisible bloodstain, a symbol of her guilt. 
  • In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth appears more ruthless than her husband, but by the end of the play, she finally succumbs to the looming guilt for her crimes, and she is unable to cope with the reality of what she’s done
• “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” 


  • After Lady Macbeth excuses the guests from the banquet hall, Macbeth reveals to his wife that he has already killed so many people that it will be too difficult to go back to being good. 
  • Here, blood symbolizes both Macbeth’s guilt and his newfound resolve to preserve his own life