I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.
Act III, Scene 4 · Macbeth
Context
Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he has gone so far into violence that continuing forward is no harder than turning back.
Analysis
The metaphor of wading through blood spatializes guilt as a river Macbeth is crossing—'Stepp'd in so far' locates him at a midpoint where both shores are equally distant. The word 'tedious' is striking: not 'impossible' or 'damning,' but merely tiresome, as if moral choice has devolved into a question of effort rather than principle. Shakespeare traps Macbeth in a syntax of equivalence—'as tedious as'—that levels damnation and murder into mere options.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Macbeth's tragedy is rooted in a failure of moral imagination—by rendering retreat and advance as equally 'tedious,' he reduces ethical choice to pragmatic calculation, sealing his fate through language that refuses redemption.