As is every dramatic work of Shakespeare, Macbeth is particularly abundant in allusions, symbols, imagery, ambivalence, and equivocations, created by its language. The ideas of murder, crime, horror, punishment, which surround the work, are manifested ...

As is every dramatic work of Shakespeare, Macbeth is particularly abundant in allusions, symbols, imagery, ambivalence, and equivocations, created by its language. The ideas of murder, crime, horror, punishment, which surround the work, are manifested themselves through the language spoken by the characters, rather than the visual means, including their actions. Perhaps, that is why Elizabethan audience used to say that they went "to hear the play" whereas modern theatre goers say that they go "to see the play." Although Macbeth is a play in which blood appears more frequently than any other Shakespearean plays, it displays just only one murder on stage-the murder of Macduff's son. All other murders, including that of Duncan and Banquo, are performed off stage, and thus, we must imagine the scenes through the descriptions of the reporters. Unlike, for example, Hamlet, which displays on stage the killings of five people, including Polonius, most deaths in Macbeth are portrayed through language, and therefore the murder and horrow, the two major themes of the play, appear more powerfully and vividly in our minds.
This paper is to examine blood imagery and its corollaries in Macbeth, so as to understand how the visual effects of the play may be achieved through language. Particular emphasis will be placed on the contrast between light and darkness. An imagery study, outdated to some people though, is still relevant to approaching Shakespeare, I beliebe, especially because Shakespearean plays are basically written in verse, which appeals to our ear rather than our eyes. The colors of red and green are opposed to each other in the play: if the color red signifies human blood, ambition, passion, and vice, the other color alludes to nature, nurture, harmony and goodness. The play is, in essence, a symbolic battle ground for the dichotomy of good and evil, manifested in physical nature and human blood.