Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ the olden time,
Ere human statute purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform’d
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: this is more strange
Than such a murder is.
– William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4. Macbeth observes that from ancient times blood has been spilled and people have committed murder, despite human laws against it. But now the dead won’t stay dead, he says. An increasingly paranoid Macbeth believes that Banquo has risen from the dead, despite twenty gashes to the head, and has taken his seat at the banquet. The passage speaks to Macbeth’s guilt and deteriorating mental state.