Lady Macbeth's 'Out Damned Spot'

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Blood is thicker than water, but it also stains. Lady MacBeth deals with this problem in her “Out Damned Spot” speech from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This speech expresses themes consistent throughout the whole play. One’s sinister actions cannot be undone or forgotten. This theme is displayed during the entirety of the play but is made especially clear during Lady Macbeth’s part in Act V. Lady Macbeth does many things to try to undo or forget what she has done but eventually has to accept that participated in murder. In Act V, Lady Macbeth is seen sleepwalking by a Doctor and a Gentlewoman. She also is mimicking the act of washing her hands in an attempt to get the blood from the many murders off her. Despite Lady Macbeth’s best attempts to rid her hands of blood, she continually comes up unsuccessful. She displays her frustration by crying, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (5.1.31). She can wash her hands either in sleep or awake, but even if she cleans them her conscience will always be bloody. It is not only the appearance of the blood on …show more content…
She decides to let it be and try to move on but she is still unable to put her sinister actions behind her. She remembers Duncan’s murder and recalls the plethora of blood from that night. She recalls the incident by moaning, “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him” (5.1.28-30). Even though so much has happened since she and Macbeth murdered Duncan she still recalls it with detail. At the end of the scene she realizes that she will never forget what she’s done and won’t be able to undo it. While sleepwalking she says to an imaginary Macbeth, “What’s done cannot be undone” (5.1.52). Lady Macbeth’s evil doings are now forever a part of her for the rest of her short life. She finally accepts that what she did is irreversible and

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