For my Literature class this semester, I was required to write a paper about Macbeth, in which I took a scene and wrote a close reading and an analysis of that scene. Having received an "A" on this paper, I want to share an excerpt of my paper.
Close Reading of Macbeth, the infamous "damned spot" monologue. Act 5.1.19-45
Close Reading of Macbeth, the infamous "damned spot" monologue. Act 5.1.19-45
In
this scene, Lady Macbeth is imagining blood on her hands that will not wash off. She begins to walk into a room holding a
candle and speaking to herself. Somewhere
nearby, a doctor and a gentlewoman are watching her as she rants about the
stains on her hands (“Look, how she rubs her hands.”) (Lines 19-21). The gentlewoman remarks that Lady Macbeth has
been partaking in this activity often, and for long periods of time, and has been
sleepwalking all the while. She
seemingly believes her hands are covered in blood and laments that they will
never be clean (“Out, damned spot! Out, out I say!”) (Line 25). She then tries to console herself, saying that
she and her husband cannot be found guilty anyway, but her guilt seems to be
mounting as she adds, “Who would have thought the old man to have had so much
blood in him.” (Line 25) She is rubbing her hands, trying to free herself from
the guilt consuming her (“What, will these hands ne'er be clean?”) (Line 31). The feeling of Duncan’s blood on her hands clouds
her minds. The guilt follows her in her
senses as well – she visualizes the blood, feels it, and even scents it, believing
that not even the greatest of perfumes can erase the smell. “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” (Line 35). This realization that her crimes cannot be
washed away coincides with one line from the Bible, “your hands are defiled
with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue
hath muttered perverseness.” (King James
Bible, Isaiah 59 2.3) The doctor remarks that there is nothing he can do
for her: “This disease is beyond my practice.” (Line 40) This shows the apparent
uncontrollable aspect of her mental breakdown, and that nothing can repair the
damage done not only to her, but to her husband and the people who have died. Lady Macbeth says that what’s done is done, and
then exits with the words “To bed, to bed!” (Line 45). The doctor watching declares there is nothing
he can do for her (“This disease is beyond my practice”) (Line 40), showing
that Lady Macbeth’s ailment is perhaps supernatural and there is nothing that
can be done to help it. He also adds, “I
have known those which have walked in their sleep who have died holily in their
beds,” which is foreshadowing of Lady Macbeth’s death following is passage. Reassuring herself that “what’s done cannot be
undone” is an attempt to wash her hands clean of the murder, to relieve the
guilt from herself. This washing of
hands parallels the Bible story of Christ’s passion, in which Pilate washes his
hands of Christ’s blood and says he has nothing more to do with His death
(“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, … he took water and washed
his hands …, saying ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.’”)(King James Bible, Matthew 27.24) This passage is reflected earlier when Lady
Macbeth says to her husband, “Retire we to our chamber. A little water clears
us of this deed. How easy is it, then!” (2.2.67). This scene brings to the very front of the
reader’s mind the play’s theme of guilt and motif of blood.
