"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand"
I don't remember exactly where within act II this little quote is from but I thought it was pretty interesting. Macbeth says this shortly after killing Duncan and I thought it was kind of a great example of Macbeths feeling of guilt and that even though, literally, Macbeth may wash off Duncans blood, figuratively, the blood will always be there just like his guilt.
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Having the background information on Macbeth also helps us understand that he feels the remorse and guilt for killing King Duncan and I agree that it is an interesting quote because he mentions Neptune- the greek god of the sea- and that even if he cleans his hands his heart will still remain "filled with filth"
ReplyDeleteAnother facet of this statement may be that no matter how many times he washes his hands or repents for what he's done, the guilt will always stay with him in his heart. After all, not even an ocean's worth of washing will get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this post and this is a bit off topic, but I'm realizing what a tragic character Macbeth is. He was a character who sworn he would never forget the remorse of killing a good man, yet in the end, he's eaten by greed and ultimately killed in that state of mind.
ReplyDeleteDenise, when do you think Macbeth reached the point of no return?
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