Macbeth

            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. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" (II.ii.58-59). Macbeth cries after he has killed Duncan, even as his wife scolds him and says that a little water will do the job. This comment shows that the blood is seen as a permanent marker showing the terrible deed that has been committed. Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the conscience of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves. .
             Hallucinations and visions are a very common occurrence for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the first murders that occur and these visions act as gruesome reminders of the horrific acts that they have committed. The appearance of Banquo's ghost and the sleepwalking scene of Lady Macbeth show the repeated form of insanity and serve as a reflection of the guilt experienced by the two lead characters. One instance is when Macbeth is going to kill Duncan. He imagines a bloody dagger in front of him, pointing towards Duncan's room in his castle. As Macbeth describes it, "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before.It is the bloody business which now informs thus to mine eyes." (II, ii, 55-58) Covered with blood and pointed toward the king's chamber, the dagger represents the bloody course on which Macbeth is about to embark.