LRJ #5

In act five there is a common theme of defeat. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suffer crushing defeats. “To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. She needs the divine more than the physician. God, God forgive us all.” (Shakespeare 5.1 74 – 76) This is the doctor talking about Lady Macbeth and how she has fallen into a state of dementia. Lady Macbeth was defeated in a way because at the beginning of the play she was so ambitious and now she has been reduced to only a faction of her prior self. Macbeth too suffered defeat, even more so that Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is conquered by Malcolm and Macduff’s army and on top of that, it occurs right after he is informed of his wife death. “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Shakespeare 5.5 24 – 28) This snippet of the soliloquy sums up Macbeths position on whats happening in his life at the moment. He has gone completely senile. With his wife dead and armies marching against him, Macbeth succumbs to such pessimism. Macbeths true defeat is in him losing his will to continue on.
The image pattern that is seen most through out act five (and the rest of Macbeth) is blood representing guilt. “Out, damn'd spot! out, I say! One¬– two¬– why, then 'tis time to do't… Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (Shakespeare 5.1 35 – 40) Lady Macbeth says this in her sleep, and it reveals her very guilty conscious. When she says out damn’d spot, she is referring to a blood stain that won’t go away, just as her guilt will not go away. When she says “who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood” she means how could she have known she would feel so guilty for the murder of Duncan. “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean?” (Shakespeare 5.1 42 – 44) She mentions blood again as to say will she ever be free from this guilt she is feeling. The helplessness with which she speaks lets the reader know that Lady Macbeth knows she truly never will be free; making this statement somewhat of a prelude to her killing herself.