Theme of Regret in Macbeth Essay Example

Can a person choose their fate, or will life choose their path for them, and leave them without an option? Director Rupert Goold’s 2010 film of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth focuses on regret. The scene that displays this idea perfectly would be Act Two, Scene Two. In this scene, Macbeth kills Duncan now having blood all over his hands because of his ambition to be King knowing he is next in line. He later regrets his decision, but whats done is done and cannot be undone. He will now live with the guilt and regret he feels in this scene. The extreme action of showing regret can be seen in this scene. This theme shows two motifs being blood and sleep. Goold shows these two motifs through camera angles and costumes. With these motifs, Goold shows camera angles through the way they set up the camera capturing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth facial expressions. With the costumes he uses blood to show that Macbeth was the one who killed Duncan and that Lady Macbeth now involves herself, and getting Duncan's blood on her hands as well. This film shows that making the right decisions will get people further in life than it would if they made not so good ones.

Blood is a motif that shows up in this scene showing his regret physically. It symbolizes the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth is filled with regret crying out “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” (Shakespeare 2.2.72-3). Goold shows this motif through costumes, as Macbeth has blood all over his hands, and Lady Macbeth has an unnatural amount of blood all over her clothes and hands. Macbeth killed Duncan and brought back the daggers with him, Lady Macbeth told him to return them, but he refused, not wanting to see what he had just done. She took those daggers back and went to smear blood everywhere, then making the horrific scene worse. Duncan’s blood shows up more in other scenes in this film, which shows that Macbeth will forever have this guilt and regret. This blood symbolizes the start of the chaos that’s about to happen. He talks to himself wishing he could forever get rid of the blood, but he feels that all the water in the sea won’t be enough to clean his hands. Goold shows the motif well smearing it everywhere, and also had shown more motifs throughout this scene.

Another motif shown is sleep, but this motif is shown through camera angles. He hears voices saying that “Glamis hath murdered sleep, therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.” (2.2.51). After Macbeth hears these voices telling him “Macbeth shall sleep no more” (2.2.51), that’s when the guilt floods him, making him instantly regret murdering Duncan. Goold uses the close-up camera angle to show Macbeth’s reactions to the words he had said and the words he had heard. His face shows fear and regret, but Lady Macbeth later comes in with a blank expression, showing no emotion. Sleep is one of the most important motifs throughout the film. Macbeth tries to hide his guilt so he doesn’t get caught but starts to not care, murdering, murdering, and murdering again. 

Regret can be shown in many ways, and these ways were shown through blood and sleep. Goold emphasizes these motifs using costumes and camera angles, and gives the audience an idea of what's to come. Blood is an important motif, and important to the film. Along with blood, sleep also makes up the film, making the film more interesting. Overall, a person can control their fate and get a good outcome by continuing to do what's right and not getting in trouble. Macbeth chose not to, then he became greedy by killing Duncan so he could take his spot, but his fate was determined by his actions. So therefore the play shows that you  may think in the moment that your doing the right thing, but it’s wring and eventually it’ll come back and effect your life.