Story

An early warning. An object that means more. The same picture coming back.

sheets.works/english/literary-devices

The devices

Foreshadowing

An early line that tells you what is coming, if you are listening.

The witches' rule is spoken in scene one. Macbeth copies it in his first line. The floating knife points him to the king's room: Is this a dagger which I see before me The Friar says the marriage will end badly, then marries them: These violent delights have violent ends

Symbolism

An object that keeps meaning more than itself.

Blood will not wash off. That is guilt, not dirt. Out, damned spot, out, I say! Sleep is peace. Macbeth murders it. Macbeth does murder sleep Marley's chain is every greedy thing he did. He has to wear it. I wear the chain I forged in life

Motif

The same image coming back, so the idea gets heavier.

Hands and water, from "a little water" to "out, damned spot". Night asked to hide a crime, first by her, then by him.