out damned spot
Obsessive handwashing exclamation
A line from Shakespeare's *Macbeth*, spoken by Lady Macbeth as she obsessively tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands after murder.
The phrase now serves as an allusion to guilt that cannot be erased, or more lightly, to any stubborn stain or blemish: Out, damned spot! This wine isn't coming out of the carpet.
- MacbethAmbitious thane's downfall
- Scottish playTheatrical euphemism for Macbeth
- bloodBody's oxygen carrier
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- guilty conscienceSelf-blame for wrongdoing
Lady Macbeth · murder · stain · washing · wash your hands · hands · sleepwalking · conscience · Shakespeare · tragedy · madness · mental anguish · scrubbing · crimson · haunted · remorse · Duncan · dagger
- Shakespeare phrasesto be or not to be, et tu Brute, all the world's a stage, friends Romans countrymen, once more unto the breach
- MacbethMacbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, Duncan, Macduff
out damned spotpeace of mind
State without anxiety
clear conscience · serenity · inner peace · absolution · forgiveness
out damned spotwashed clean
purified · spotless · immaculate · absolved · baptized
out damned spotshamelessness
Absence of moral embarrassment
sociopathy · remorselessness · callousness · cold-bloodedness · no regrets
damned, spot, damn, outs, outed, outing, outer, outward, outwardly