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Blood in Macbeth: Human Nature and Its Impact on History
“Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire for power.”
--Thomas Hobbes
The 1500s to 1600s in Europe is known as a time of constant and violent struggle
to find a balance between power and freedoms. James I is remembered as an absolute
monarch, and William III as balancing his power with the English Bill of Rights. As the
royalty seek out more power and control of their territory, the commoners advocate for
an increase in rights. The era of absolutism represents man’s unending desire for power
and depicts the extent they will go to achieve it. Shakespeare incorporates blood imagery
in Macbeth to expose violence in human nature through a comparison between
Macbeth’s tyrannical rule and 16th to 17th century philosophies about absolute power.
Shakespeare reveals Lord and Lady Macbeth’s internal thoughts about greed and
power, upholding Thomas Hobbes’s beliefs that humans are born evil (Ross). Lady
Macbeth channels her ambitious and harsh personality to muster the strength to
withstand Duncan’s murder when she says, “Come you Spirits / That tend on mortal
thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst
cruelty! Make thick my blood…” ( Shakespeare I, v, 47-50). Power-hungry Lady
Macbeth--eager to commit murder—supports Thomas Hobbes’s principles that humans
are naturally immoral. Shakespeare uses a description of thick blood to emphasize Lady
Macbeth’s ruthless side. Continuing on, Shakespeare uncovers Lady Macbeth’s greed as
she prematurely celebrates Macbeth’s prophesy, “Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor! /
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!” (I, v, 61-62). Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s
inner ambitions about gaining power through kingship agree with Thomas Hobbes, that
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humans are naturally power-hungry and greedy. Macbeth describes his intentions of
murdering Duncan as a means to gain the crown and depicts the theory of human
nature, “When we have mark’d with blood those sleepy two / Of his own chamber and
used their very daggers” (I, vii, 86-87). Thomas Hobbes’s philosophy and its
assimilation into Shakespeare’s writing provides historical context to the play and
indicates the bias and philosophies of the Jacobean era--that humans are naturally evil.
As well as the representation of humans’ sinful nature, Shakespeare mirrors King
James I’s ideals about divine right and the necessity of a monarch after Macbeth takes
Duncan’s place and Scotland falls under his monarchial rule. James I believed that
“Kings are justly called gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine
power upon earth” (Pearce). Shakespeare emphasizes Macbeth’s absolute control with
other characters’ fear, supporting James I’s ideas. The playwright incorporates his
contemporaries’ ideas into Macbeth, showing historical influence on Shakespeare and
his writing. Well into Macbeth’s time as King, he begins to understand the trouble and
violence he has caused getting to his position of high power, as he realizes, “I am in
blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more”(III, iv, 169). Shakespeare also
integrates a reference of blood into the dialogue to stress Macbeth’s gruesome actions.
The measures Macbeth is willing to go through to gain power proves Thomas Hobbes’s
theory and once King, his ruling mirrors King James I’s monarchy.
Shakespeare adds even more depth to the play as Macbeth’s failing monarchy
challenges Thomas Hobbes and James I’s ideas, foreshadowing the eventual downfall
and cessation of absolute monarchs in England and Scotland. Even though divine right
places kings on earth to rule under God’s orders, Macduff expresses disgust with
Macbeth and wishes his ruling to come to an end as he says, “Bleed, bleed, poor country!
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/ Great tyranny!”(IV, iii, 33-34). The play’s internal protest to absolute monarchy and
King James I reflects the commoners’ viewpoint during the Jacobean era. Likewise,
Malcolm expresses his concern with the country under Macbeth’s rule as he admits, “I
think our country sinks beneath the yoke. / It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
/ Is added to her wounds” (IV, iii, 40-43). Shakespeare’s imagery highlights the
bloodshed taken place under Macbeth’s kingship. The characters’ confessions counter
King James I and Thomas Hobbes, in that this absolute monarchy was not able to
successfully keep the country together. It also foreshadows the overthrow of Macbeth
and, in historical terms, absolute monarchies, with the beheading of Charles I.
Shakespeare relates Macbeth and his contemporaries’ philosophy to uncover the
flaws of human power, and uses blood imagery to emphasize the discoveries’ brutality.
Thomas Hobbes’s and James I’s beliefs are corroborated with Macbeth’s initial greed.
However, Shakespeare refutes the success of an absolute monarchy with Inverness’s
defeat and Macbeth’s assassination, demonstrating that corrupt governing can even
deny divine right. The comparisons Shakespeare present ultimately reveals the excess
of violence in the human race and adds depth to the play.
Works Cited
Pearcy, Thomas, PhD. "King James I, Works." Norton Publishing, n.d. Web. 1997.
Ross, Ralph, Herbert W. Schneider, and Theodore Waldman, eds. Thomas Hobbes in
His Time. Ed. NED - New edition. University of Minnesota Press, 1974.
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Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. Macbeth. New York:
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print.