Biblical Influences on William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Note: All line references are taken from the Pelican Shakespeare version of Macbeth.

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" asks Macbeth, in the play in which he is the title character, as he frantically scrubs in an attempt to remove the evidence of his regicide. "No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red." (II.ii.63-66)

To his own mind, Macbeth is forever scarred with the act he has committed against his king. This does not differ greatly from the doctrine of original sin. The concept of original sin is that the sin of Adam and Eve is transferred to all of their descendants, and thus all of humanity is tainted.

Macbeth is so distraught, in fact, that when he hears a prayer being said, "I could not say 'Amen' / when they did say 'God bless us.'" (II.ii.31-32) In some traditions, it is believed that all of human history is the struggle to return to the relationship man had with God in the Garden of Eden. Macbeth has clearly lost his intimacy with the divine.

The story of the expulsion from Eden is found in Genesis, Chapter 3. After God has specifically told Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, the serpent nonetheless tempts Eve to eat the fruit, which she does. As well, she gives some to Adam, which he eats. God punishes them by having men struggle for their food, and women suffer the pain of childbirth and be subservient to their husbands.

The parallel story in William Shakespeare's Macbeth begins with Macbeth being promised the throne of Scotland. He contemplates killing the current king, Duncan, but decides against it. His wife, Lady Macbeth, coerces him into the murder, which he commits. The prophecy is fulfilled as Macbeth is crowned, but soon becomes a dictator and brings misery into Scotland.