Macbeth, shortly after he sees the ghost of the murdered Banquo at his feast, goes into a state of shock and has to be escorted back to his chamber by Lady Macbeth. He tells Lady Macbeth before he goes to sleep, "All causes shall give way: I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er:" (III, iv, 159-161).In this case, the meaning of blood has changed to evil. Macbeth is saying that he is stepped so far into a sticky pool of blood that it would be impossible to get out of that pool, meaning that he is so far into evil that it is impossible to go back to being good. Like her husband, the once ambitious Lady Macbeth finally realizes the significance of associating herself in the murder plot and the severe repercussions it will bring. She is tormented by nightmares, and she sleepwalks through her bedroom and cries, "Out, damned spot! Out I say! ...Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?…What, will these hands ne'er be clean?…Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (V, i, 16, 18-19, 40, 21-22, 25-25). The blood imagery shows Lady Macbeth's guilt over Duncan's murder. Her hallucinations of blood on her hands and her constant efforts to wash it off demonstrate that the agony of having guilty feelings is causing her to go insane. We later learn that this guilt strains her mind to the point that she commits suicide. In the play's final scene, Macduff confronts. Macbeth to avenge the murders of his children and his wife at Macbeth's hand, and to see Malcolm established as the rightful King. As Malcolm sees Macbeth, he exclaims, "I have no words: My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain Than terms can give thee out!" (V, viii, 8-10) Macbeth and Macduff then engage in a fight to the death with Macduff eventually emerging victorious. After Macbeth is slain, the symbolic theme of blo...
