ay, by following the character changes in Macbeth. First, he is a brave honored soldier, but as the play progresses, he becomes identified withe death and bloodshed, along with showing his guilt in different forms. The first sinister reference to blood is one of honor, showed in Act I scene ii. This occurs when Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says "What bloody man is that?". This is symbolic of the brave fighter who has been injured in a valiant battle for his country. In the next passage, in which the sergeant says "Which smok'd with bloody execution," he is referring to Macbeth's braveness in which he covers his sword in the hot blood of the enemy. Act II, Scene ii. The symbol of blood now changes to show a form of treachery and treason. Lady Macbeth starts this off when she asks the spirits to "Make thick my blood." What she is saying by this, is that she wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the deeds that she is about to commit. Lady Macbeth knows that the evidence of blood is a treacherous symbol, and knows it will deflect the guilt from her and Macbeth to the servants when she says "Smear the sleepy grooms withe blood.", and "If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt." Act V, Scene i - Lady Macbeth shows the most vivid example of guilt with the use of the imagery of blood, in the scene that she walks in her sleep. She says "Out damned spot! Out I say! One: two: why then 'tis time to do't: hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it when none can call out power to account? Yet who have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" All these references in the quotation are to murder and both include direct references to blood, again linking blood to treachery and murder. Yet, this speech represents the fact that she cannot wipe the blood stains of Duncan off her hand. It is ironic that she says this, because right ...
