In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, symbolism plays a prominent role in emphasizing the theme of the corruption of power. Throughout the play, several main symbols are used repeatedly to emphasize this theme. The contrast of light and dark represents good and evil, blood represents guilt, murder and pain, and the archetypal pattern of cleansing through water represents the removal of guilt, purification and peace. Symbolism is used repeatedly to emphasize the theme of the corruption of power. The image of blood plays an important role in Macbeth. The blood represents the murders Macbeth committed, the guilt that accompanied those murders, and the pain it inflicted on him during his downfall. The soldier describes the violence and bloodshed in the war between Scotland and Norway, "except they wanted to bathe in stinking wounds." (I. ii. 43) foreshadows the violent nature of the play filled with murder, guilt and pain. The blood in the murder of King Duncan also plays a major role as it represents Macbeth's guilt as well as his shame for the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth observes his bloodstained hands and remarks, "As they had seen me with these executioner's hands." (II. ii. 28) This reveals his guilt and shame as he compares his hands to those of an executioner. After the murder, Macbeth refuses to return to Kind Duncan's room to smear the blood on the sleeping guards, because he is afraid that the blood will further incriminate him. Lady Macbeth smearing the blood on the guards represents them trying to shift their guilt onto the guard. "I will gild the faces of the grooms with it, for it must appear their guilt" (II. ii. 73) but this proves ineffective as Macbeth ends up murdering the...... middle of paper... .. A dark setting used implied supernatural events, while the light setting was used for the last battle, when Macbeth was killed at the end to show the restoration of peace and honesty. Thus, the symbolism of light and darkness representing good and evil in the play emphasizes the theme of the corruption of power. In conclusion, symbolism is used to emphasize a theme through repetition and imagery. It is used to emphasize the theme of the corruption of power due to Macbeth's actions. Blood representing guilt, murder and pain, the contrast of light and dark representing good and evil and the archetypal pattern of purification using water representing the removal of guilt, purification and peace are the main symbols used repeatedly to emphasize this theme. These symbols effectively describe the theme to allow the audience to understand and engage with the piece..