What does Macbeth mean when he says he will turn 'the multitudinous seas incarnadine' - Act 2, Scene 2?

Macbeth:Whence is that knocking?How is't with me, when every noise appalls me?What hands are here? Hah! They pluck out mine eyes.Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand? No; this my hand will ratherThe multitudinous seas incarnadine,Making the green one red.'Incarnadine' here comes from the Latin root, carne, meaning meat/flesh. Here, Shakespeare creates a verb out of the root word, to indicate 'to turn red' (like flesh). Macbeth is associating his guilt over Duncan's murder with the physical blood that was spilt, realising that the emotional guilt he feels can never be washed clean from his conscience, unlike the physical blood. Instead, this metaphorical blood resurfaces in his mind in gargantuan proportions in his choice of image, with Neptune's multiple seas becoming a conduit to spread moral infection throughout the world. Macbeth is beginning to play out the consequences of his actions in relation to the society he is a part of. Interestingly, these remain quite abstracted; his images do not involve actual people or social groups, but instead the entire world and its Gods. Macbeth skips over the relational elements of his actions, and moves over into the philosophical. This is then extended further in his last soliloquy, where he contemplates human existence even more abstractly in 'out brief candle, life is but a walking shadow' etc.

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Answered by Camilla S. English Literature tutor

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