Picasso's Anguish: Blood Will Have Blood

Pablo Picasso's Guernica is a statement about war and violence. Created in response to the German bombing of the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, this painting is a statement against violence, showing the tragedies of war and how it inflicts suffering on innocent citizens. The bombing of Guernica was an attack on a population mostly populated by women and children, and this assault on women and children can be interpreted as an assault at the very core of mankind. Guernica is an universal masterpiece warning humanity against the suffering and devastation of war.

Similarly, Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth shows that violence is not an answer and that violence only leads to more violence. Macbeth is not short of violence, as it begins with a battle, contains the murders of kings, friends, mothers, men, and children, and ends with the suicide of Lady Macbeth and the beheading of Macbeth himself. In the process of this bloodshed, an important point is made. Every violent act will lead inevitably to the next. Macbeth is originally a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined for evil deeds, yet against his better judgement, he decides to murder King Duncan in a bid for power.

This succumbing to his ambitions in the form of violence ultimately leads to Macbeth’s destruction. Soon after Duncan’s death, Macbeth stews in guilt and paranoia. Macbeth starts to see hallucinations and visions, which serve as a reminder of his guilt and violence. Right after his murder of Duncan, while Lady Macbeth seems to believe that “a little water clears us of this deed” (Shakespeare 37), Macbeth knows otherwise and that more violence will ensue. Macbeth soon realizes that once one uses violence to gain power, it only opens the way for others to do the same. Macbeth has had a revelation that “blood will have blood… [I am] stepped in so far” (Shakespeare 61-62). The only way to defend himself through potential threats to the throne is by using violent means to get rid of them. Macbeth has sacrificed everything for ambition, and is too engrossed in his violence and ambition to turn back. Struck by this realization, Macbeth is forced to continue murdering potential threats to his throne. Finally, Macbeth is pushed by his violence and ambition to murder to just his political enemies, but also their innocent families. This barbaric deed has confirmed Macbeth’s loss of humanity, and now the seeds of his destruction have been sown.

As Martin Luther King Jr. has said, “Hate begets hate, violence begets violence.” The lesson that Pablo Picasso’s Guernica and Shakespeare’s Macbeth are trying to teach us is that violence only leads to more violence. Yet, love, the most positive energy of all, can overcome this cycle of violence and hatred.