Macbeth Help?

Question

after the disturbance at the banquet table , macbeth says,
I am in blood
stepped in so far that, should i wade no more,
returning were as tedious as go o'er
what does he mean ??please explain
and what does this show about his moral development??
no dumb answers please thanx

Answer 1

I am in blood
Step't in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er:
Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd.

In this passage from Act III, Macbeth is convincing himself that his regicidal machinations have reached the point where following through would be easier than turning back. He has spilt the blood of two noble people, Duncan and Banquo. The cold-blooded murder of Duncan has already aroused the suspicions of many of Macbeth’s equals, namely, Banquo and Macduff. Macbeth now realizes that he must eliminate those suspicious individuals, or face the consequences of his regicide.

These lines are fairly true relative to Macbeth’s actions in the play. Initially, he could have opted out of the imperial plot against Duncan. However, once he murders the king heartlessly, he follows with the silencing of any voices who might trace the murder to him. However, Macbeth’s greatest fear is that “Banquo’s issue” would seize the crown from him. Subsequently, these two fears motivate him to kill the families of Banquo and Macduff. The metaphor of him wading in the river accentuates his belief that the murders will have great repercussions. People would not stand idle while these unspeakable crimes are being committed. Consequently, Macbeth fears that his complicity in the plots will be discovered. He reasons that even if he returns to being the morally righteous person he once was, he cannot clean his bloodstained hands. Eventually, someone would unravel the truth about the murders, and would challenge his legitimacy to the throne. Since Macduff was absent from his feast, Macbeth infers that Macduff is already becoming more hostile towards him. Thus, in order to protect himself and preserve his power, Macbeth decides that the thane must be “silenced,” before he can attribute the murders to Macbeth. The massacre of Macduff’s household in Act IV, and the battle of Dunsinane, therefore, are the culmination of Macbeth’s attempts to preserve his own throne.

These lines convey the message that sometimes one cannot undo or atone for what he has committed. In this case, the murder of a king is an unforgivable deed with serious consequences. Subsequently, in order to protect his own interests, Macbeth continues with the crime, eradicating anything that traces his crimes back to him. Therefore, what is gained from the crime is not gained legitimately, and hence, the universal message that Shakespeare communicates to us is that one cannot be happy with what he has, if the attainment is immoral.

Answer 2

Its been a while since i have studied Macbeth, basically what he is saying is that it is too late now... he has dug this massive hole for himself and the only way out is to continue killing further people in his way.

It can be interpreted many different ways in terms of his moral development... The way i see it is that he has become more murderous and has lost his moral standards because wasn't it earlier in the play (correct me if im wrong) that he was having doubts about killing Duncan? and it was Lady Macbeth who persuaded him? so in the beginning Macbeth did have some moral standards and he knew what he was doing was wrong, but now he has lost all that and he is making murderous decisions on his own, therefore becoming a murderous brute and showing us, as the audience, that his moral development has changed negatively!!!

Answer 3

As with most lines there are multiple meanings. The simplest is actually that he is so deeply bloodied that he can not get worse. The image of him standing in the deepest part of a pool of blood. It is as if to say, things cannot get worse than they are. Being so bloodied, he feels there is no way out. "In for a penny, in for a pound" Nothing he does further will make any diffence and get him deeper into hell.

Answer 4

hes saying that he has killed so many people that returning to being good would be just as hard as continuing to kill people. this means that he still sees the difference in good an evil, yet he has lost all hope for being good and sees killing as his only answer, is seeking the easy way out of his problem