Critical Analysis of Symbolism in ‘Macbeth’

Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare and published in 1673 during the reign of King James I. Macbeth is thought to be the play that most closely relates to his relationship with the king. Macbeth is a General who receives a prophecy from three witches saying, “all hail Macbeth, he shalt be king hereafter!” prophesying his becoming King of Scotland. This and his wife’s drive for power leads to him killing King Duncan and committing regicide to take the Scottish throne for himself. The bloodbath and consequent civil war are caused by this and the escalating paranoia of Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare portrays the motifs of power through Lady Macbeth’s summoning of spirits to give her male traits and implores them to make her remorseless. Her encouragement of Macbeth to be more manipulative and conniving ultimately leads to the final tragedy.

On the one hand, Lady Macbeth has committed terrible crimes in the context of the medieval period in which the play is set in. This includes plotting and assisting in regicide. She violated the code of hospitality in her home. These were one of the key responsibilities of women in this historical period. She retains a shocking rejection of femininity, wifehood, and motherhood. She also consults supernatural spirits frequently. This is particularly shocking to the audience of the play because of the witch hunts of that time. On the other hand, we must consider the delicate conditions of the society Lady Macbeth lived in to sympathize with her and unpick Malcolm's point of view as a man. The great chain of being and social hierarchy could have affected Malcolm’s judgment as the chain of being was gendered. In this context, therefore, any wrongdoing by Lady Macbeth may have been exaggerated in his mind. As a woman living in a hyper-masculine and sexist society, many limitations were placed on women during this period. Women were often viewed as trophies and objectified, leading us to sympathize and think better of her despite all her crimes and shift more of the blame onto Macbeth. Shakespeare also hints towards a possible miscarriage before the play starts. Lady Macbeth could be emotionally affected in an irrational way which could affect her decision-making. Witchcraft was shed in a very bad light which would have almost definitely distorted Malcolm’s view.

Act 1 scene 5, is imperative in our understanding of Lady Macbeth. A particularly interesting line shows Lady Macbeth saying, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty”. This imperative dark imagery using words like “direst” shocks the reader as lady Macbeth directly wants to strip herself of her femininity. This is in order to be able to follow through with her desperate plans to seize power from the King by assisting and plotting regicide. Imperative verbs such as quoted in the above quote and, “make thick my blood” also raise her status as an empowered character, although the audience would clearly see this as a manipulation of the early modern humoral theory. This is a model for the human body and sickness, it was believed that the four senses of humor, including blood, have to be balanced to ensure a healthy body. The fact that she is asking for her blood to be made thick would be alarming for the audience, showing the lengths to which, she will go for power. She says, “Stop up the passage to remorse” this metaphor is another example of her trying to rid herself of any femininity in her. It is also a tragic misconception of femininity as a weakness that one cannot help feeling empathy towards her. More dark imagery is used in her soliloquy in this scene, “pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”. This metaphor for concealment implies that Lady Macbeth wants to be blind to her crimes and seeks Queendom with no conscious knowledge of her passage to the throne. This emphasizes the importance of the crown and the attraction of power. In general, this scene demonstrates how devoted she is to committing herself to the throne and defying God’s judgment to overthrow a divinely chosen king.

In act 1 scene 7, Lady Macbeth once again chooses to strongly contrast her femininity by saying that “I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this”. This evocation of child murder is a metaphor for her determination and disavowal of conventional femininity. it also juxtaposes her ruthless attitude and the innocence of a baby. This is in order to once again confirm to the audience that Lady Macbeth is capable of being almost inhumanly manipulative by goading Macbeth and threatening his manliness, by shedding herself of any feminine characteristics that were expected of her in such a masculine-dominated society. It also highlights her lust for power as she desperately tries to convince Macbeth to perform a regicidal act. Lady Macbeth also illustrates her manipulative personality when she says,” was the hope drunk wherein you dressed?” This metaphor for Macbeth’s lack of courage makes me sympathize with Malcolm's judgment as it once again exhibits rather fiend-like qualities.

Immediately after the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth does not reveal any tone of regret when She tells Macbeth that it would be stupid for him to think that the situation was a “sorry sight”. She says,” a foolish thought, to say a sorry sight”. This clearly emphasizes her perverted judgment of killing a King, presenting to the audience, Lady Macbeth as a fiend-like queen. At this point, we can clearly see Lady Macbeth as the dominant partner in their relationship. With a wider perspective, we can see this power dynamic shift throughout the play. Act 2 scene 2, as well as act 3 scene 2, also features a recurring motif of sleep. In the time period of this play, sleep was seen as the most vulnerable state and also that closest to god. Sleep symbolizes various things. sleep plays a major role in showing a character's innocence and inner struggle, establishing the dark mood and developing the themes of innocence and guilt. “sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”. This personification of sleep indicates the significance of his deed in his mind and clearly points toward a certain guilt and anxiety. Lady Macbeth’s response to this is in a mocking tone, “who was it, that thus cried?” another example of her devilishly manipulative character is through the use of rhetoric. He cannot feel connected to God as he feels he is unable to say amen,” but wherefore could I not pronounce amen?”. This reference to Christianity is highlighted by Lady Macbeth convincing Macbeth to do the dirty work to overleap any obstacles in order to directly confront his ambition. This is particularly frightening as early in the play Macbeth was described as a gallant and noble man. Lady Macbeth shows Machiavellianism when telling Macbeth to,” sleek over your rugged looks; be bright and jovial among your guests tonight”. This is exactly the sort of thing Machiavelli would talk about in his political text The Prince when he refers to maintaining a good physical impression in order to make sure people believe in you as a strong physical leader; no one would be in a reasonable state to challenge power.

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In this period of the play, there is a notable contrast between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s differing responses to the blood of the King. Macbeth is very wary of the blood on his hands in a more figurative way. To him, it symbolizes a huge mistake and regrets as he tries to wash his hands clean of the blood of his King as noted by Macbeth, “my hands are of your color but I shame to wear a heart so white”. This symbolism of blood portrays the devastating effect that Lady Macbeth has on Macbeth. This is also evoked when Macbeth asks, “will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood from my hand”. This hyperbolic metaphor once again shows the way that Lady Macbeth has affected Macbeth’s state of mind and made him feel severe regret. Lady Macbeth however, has a rather frightening lateral stance on the blood on Macbeth and sees it only as a way for Macbeth to be caught and prosecuted for his crimes, as shown when she tells Macbeth, “a little water clears us of this deed”. This metaphor implies that Lady Macbeth remains oblivious to the symbolic and redemptive power of the purity of water. This contributes to the motif of water in the play. As the play shows Macbeth desperately trying to wash the blood off his hands with water. The blood signifies his demons and the water represents purity. Macbeth washing his hands represents his attempt to repent and become closer again to God, although it seems that the non-existent blood, in Macbeth’s increasingly delusional mind, never comes off.

So far throughout this play, we have seen Lady Macbeth as a tragic character who misinterprets her gender roles and understanding, coinciding with the gender stereotypes formed in the early modern period. Lady Macbeth constantly tries to reverse the feminine stereotypes by purposely evoking a sense of hyper-masculinity. This is because she has repressed thoughts that might have made her more kind or remorseful earlier in the play. In the sleepwalking scene, we see that the feelings she has hidden return to “plague the inventor” in the form of insomnia and madness. She refers to water in stark irony after the murder of Duncan saying, “water will clear us of this deed”. This symbolizes her need for redemption and forgiveness, however distant it may be.

At this time, sleepwalking was often associated with madness as sleep contained connotations of being close to God and being holy. In the scene it is made clear that Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking, “I have seen her rise from her bed… yet all this while in most fast sleep”. This acts as a clear pointer to Lady Macbeth’s decline throughout the play. The doctor says herself, “A great perturbation in nature to receive at once the benefits of sleep and do the effects of watching!” This reinforces the irony of the earlier scene where she makes fun of Macbeth for not being able to sleep. She slowly reverses roles with Macbeth. Health has to be balanced between the mind and the body, ironically, Lady Macbeth’s attempts to tamper with her own humor in the scene where she asks spirits to replace her woman’s milk with bile, have resulted in her own madness, it is almost as if she becomes the complete opposite of what she had set out to be: A Queen capable of maintaining her position.

Act 5 scene 1 sees the final step to the reversal of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s power state. Leading up to the killing of Duncan, Lady Macbeth mocked Macbeth for his “weak” mind, saying he is a coward and using harsh rhetoric like, “was the hope drunk wherein you dressed”. By this time, Lady Macbeth can hardly leave her bed, full of regret and melancholy mood. The doctor describes her to be in a “slumbery agitation”. She Is also seen to wash her hands every quarter of an hour. This obsessive behavior shows the audience her terrible state of regret. She “has a light by her constantly”, the symbolism for the light is the need for redemption as light is usually associated with purity and holiness. Lady Macbeth says, “out damned spot! out I say” this spot has connotations of moral anguish. This scene illustrates that her pursuit of power; her reckless decisions have ironically led her to a state of diminished power and a lack of strength as through her obsessive behavior, she can clearly be seen as mentally ill in the scene.

In conclusion, Shakespeare has created a truly complex character in this play. Her motives seem to be borne out of her over-ambition and pursuit of power. Ironically, this is what eventually tears her apart and leads to her own demise. Although it is clear to see the demonic resemblance of the character which Malcolm identifies, I must also consider the context of women in the period. Lady Macbeth may be assuming this hyper-masculine persona in order to empower herself in a time when women were impotent. This results in total chaos as we see later in the play. Although many would argue that this is not an excuse for the ungodly and sinful behavior, Malcolm sees her manipulation of Macbeth; turning him from a noble warrior to the monster he becomes towards the end of the play and showcased on multiple occasions throughout. Arguably Lady Macbeth’s biggest mistake was persuading Macbeth to commit regicide as it is that which ultimately converts him from the noble warrior he once was to the delusional leader we see towards the end of the play. We can clearly see that she has the monstrous traits that Malcolm refers to. However, I can sympathize with her inner motives of empowering her gender as a proto-feminist to challenge Malcolm's preconceptions of women in that period.