Why I find the symbolism of washing blood from hands in Macbeth so fascinating... a thread.

1/ the immediacy of the image in a literal sense: the violence of the act of murder laid bare. Macbeth May have murdered a king and disrupted the natural order/ great chain of being, but murder still has a human victim.

2/ the horror it represents to Macbeth immediately after the act as he questions, “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?“. Is this regret? An understanding of mortal and unredeemable sin committed? Interesting that it’s a Roman god here...

3/ Does Shakespeare use an unchristian/Roman God to represent Macbeth’s separation from God?

4/ “my hands are of your colour” Lady Macbeth is complicate in Macbeth’s crime. She too is covered in blood and so guilt.

5/ which brings me to her desperation to clean her hands of the ‘blood’ whilst sleep walking. Is she mad? Or does she seek redemption? Stay with me...

6/ the image of washing your hands of Sin is a biblical allusions to Pontius Pilot, the Roman official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion...

7/ Pilate gave the people a choice to save Jesus or Barabbas. They chose the latter and he “washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person“. The Jacobean audience would recognise this. Does this create sympathy for her?

8/ Does her washing of hands create the idea that she seeks redemption unlike her husband who refuses to play the “Roman fool” and die on his own sword in an honourable(?) death?

9/ So if the idea of responsibility/ guilt/ responsibility comes up on the next GCSE, this motif makes an interesting way to address the play as a whole.
I bet they’re also layers I’m missing too!