Imagery in Macbeth
...o return to the crime scene to smear blood on the guards, fearing the blood will somehow implicate him further. Macbeth feels uncomfortable with blood on his hands. He immediately tries to remove it after killing the guards. The cleansing by water is seen throughout the play and symbolizes the removal of guilt. Following the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth reassures her husband that what they did was necessary and they would be fogiven by telling him, "A little water clears us of the deed"; (I. ii. 67) Later in the play, Lady Macbeth repeatedly rubs her hands together, representing washing her hands. She hopes to clear her conscience by removing the "spot" from her hand, as she says, "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" (V. i. 31) Water symbolizes the purification of a guilty conscience. Together blood and water show death and cleansing of sins. The disruption in nature in Macbeth symbolizes a disturbance between people such as a murder. After Macbeth murders Duncan a shrieking owl sounds his death. "It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, which gives the stern'st good-night." In Act 2, scene 2, Lady Macbeth waits anxiously for Macbeth to return from killing Duncan, the King of Scotland.. The owl is a bellman because its hoot symbolizes the bell of death. When the owls screamed and the crickets cried, it symbolized evil doings. In Act 2, scene 4, Ross and an old man exchange accounts of the disturbed night and the recent unnatural happenings. The heavens and animals are troubled by man's presence on earth's stage, where he performs his bloody acts. The night has been unruly, houses and chimneys were being destroyed by fierceful winds, and everything was filled with "dire combustion." The owl, clamored the night. "A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl, whose normal prey is a mouse. The night has become more powerful than the day or else the day is hiding its face in shame. Also, Macbeth's horses, as they broke their stalls, and were said to have eaten each other. Bizarre events occured the night Duncan was murdered by Macbeth. These dreadful events took place at night, a symbolic reference to the evil doings of men. There is a sense of fear, wonderment, amazement, and mystery. An atmosphere of death is symbolized by the behavior of the animals of the night and disturbance in nature. Light and dark represent good and evil in the play. The sun is a symbol of the king and the quotes "When shall we three meet again and "That will be ere the set of sun." (I. i. 1,4) fore...