What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
– William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2. While Shakespeare decided against showing King Duncan being murdered in his bed, he wanted to convey the full horror of this terrible deed. He does this by showing Macbeth with bloody hands. A guilt-racked Macbeth looks down at his murderous hands and laments that all the waters in the ocean could not wash the blood away. His hands would turn the seas crimson, he says, recognizing how his spirit has been corrupted. This deep sense of guilt will follow Macbeth for the rest of the play.