Punishment of Murderers in Macbeth

Punishment of Murderers in “Macbeth” by Andrew Schwartz

Vicious cycle of sin in Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” comes to its’ end when Macbeth dies and that way the last part of witches’ prediction comes true. Sons of King Duncan take the throne for the order to be restored. In this part, blood has a meaning of the source of life on the earth while death symbolizes redemption, forgiveness and pay off – the beginning. It has to be added that they will not be punished for their murder because they punish guilty ones – Macbeth. Shakespeare does not describe all the terrible details of the scene with Macbeth’s death in the final of the play. There is no straight indication though bloody details are assumed. That way, Shakespeare has hidden the role of blood as an integral part of murder when it comes to Macbeth’s death – Macbeth receives the deserved punishment; there is redemption instead of the sin. The natural flow of events is now restored, as sons of the dead king inherit kingdom, they are also related by blood.

In “Macbeth” a cyclical nature of sin and murder is observed as the subsequent factor. The symbolic concepts of blood reveal cyclical nature that develops from scene to scene. In the very beginning of the play, Shakespeare shows blood as a source of strength and weakness – physical punishment and heroism, as the sergeant is both strong and week. The scene for the story is set – sin and blood as the source of misery, power, and suffering. It has to be pointed out, that Macbeth still must be punished for the murder despite the fact that there was temptation by the witches. It is common to Bible the way Macbeth can make his own choices in his life. The situation is dualistic, as Macbeth is tempted, he did not plan King Duncan’s murder; going even further, as witches predict before Macbeth commits sin – he is predestined to extent; afterwards, he does not have his free will, if he knows the future way ahead. If to examine events from this prospective – Macbeth is a victim; but still Shakespeare blames him throughout all the play.

The level of punishment for the committed sins increases when events unfold – Macbeth keeps killing more; now he doesn’t have fear when he kills – and there is no way to wash the blood off his hands. Lack of ability to forgive the sin is presented throughout the play – guilt of Macbeths must be washed away by sufferings and paid off. Bloody murder alters the system because everything in the world has its certain laws by which our society is governed and established pattern of developments; sin must be paid off for function in the future to be corrected ; committed mistakes cannot be forgiven – only pain can neutralize them. These are the laws which are established by Shakespeare in the society of fear, power, violence and greed presented in “Macbeth”. As such, sin in this play is cyclical – it develops throughout the play, and it reaches the highest point, when all sins are punished, that’s the time when successful operation of system is restored. Inability to acknowledge such laws is the major mistake of Macbeths. They had to pay a high price for their mistake; in real time settings many people still must learn this through their own experiences.

Andrew Shwartz is staff-writer at Custom-Writing.org, writing custom essays. Andrew has been providing assistance to students withReport Writing for over 2 years. He is always willing to share his own experiences, provide quality custom writing services and writing tips to students of all academic levels.

Article Directory: Article Dashboard