Examples Of Guilt In Macbeth

   Shakespeare's "Macbeth" holds many hidden themes within its already exuberant plot.  The first of these surrounds the murder of Duncan and the role that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself played.  However, the true guilt of the murder can fall on either character.  Although Macbeth physically committed the crime, it was Lady Macbeth that pushed him to his limits of rational thought and essentially made fun of him to lower his esteem.  With Macbeth's defenses down, it was an easy task for Lady Macbeth to influence Duncan's murder and make up an excuse as to why she could not do it herself.  The guilt of Duncan's murder can be placed firmly on the head on Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare and edited by Maynard Mack and Robert Boynton, displays the many ways in which guilt manifests itself and the effects it has on its victims. Throughout the play, characters including Lady Macbeth are deeply affected by guilt in ways they had never expected. Macbeth takes its audience on a journey through the process in which guilty gradually eats away at Lady Macbeth and forces her to do what she thinks is best. Though Lady Macbeth may have initially seemed unaffected by the murders she had been involved in, her desires eventually faded and were replaced with an invincible feeling of guilt which eventually took her life.

Guilt is a very strong and uncomfortable feeling that often results from one’s own actions. This strong emotion is one of the theme ideas in William Shakespeare, “Macbeth”. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel guilt, but they react in different ways. Guilt hardens Macbeth, but cause Lady Macbeth to commit suicide. As Macbeth shrives to success guilt overcome’s Macbeth where he can no longer think straight. Initially Macbeth planned was to kill Duncan but it wasn’t enough he also had to kill Banquo and Macduff’s family. On the other hand Lady Macbeth had to call upon the weird sister to unsexed her so she had no true feeling towards anything as if she was a man. However, the true guilt of the murder

You can control guilt or guilt will drive you into madness. In the novel, Macbeth, guilt has taken over two of the main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, but each one responds to it in a different way. Their similarities and differences are quite obvious and both are driven to their actions by this feeling. It will eventually cause both of them a breakdown, affecting their behaviors and resulting them into going through a psychological incapacity.

The story “The Tragedy Of Macbeth” also called The Scottish Play was written in 1606, by William Shakespeare. The story takes place in Scotland where King Duncan is in charge the country. Macbeth who is the Thames of Glamis, will go on an adventure to take leadership of the country of Scotland, while he also battles with his personal insanity along the way. Macbeth will eventually be King of Scotland and have a miserable reign due to his guilt, inadequacy and tyranny.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the plot evolves in great accordance to the guilt that the individual characters feel. The guilt starts with the planning and execution of the murder of King Duncan. To this event Lady Macbeth and Macbeth react in different ways. They both become guilty in some way or another but the guilt they feel is comprised of different reasons. It is due to their differences in character that they react in the ways they do. While it might not seem like both of them become guilty after this event, when explored their actions show clearly the guilt they feel.

In the play Macbeth,William Shakespeare explores the topic of guilt. Specifically,he suggests that guilt can take a toll on you and provoke your actions. For example, in Macbeth, Shakespeare writes,”Blood has been shed ere now.. But now they rise again, with twenty mortal murders on their crowns, and push us from our stools” (3.4.76-83). The quote is saying that murdering people before was easy because he didn’t care, but this time his guilt is coming back to haunt him.This quote is said by Macbeth soon after the murderer tells him that Banquo has successfully been murdered. The others at the banquet also mention how there is an empty place at the table. That seat is Banquo’s. Shortly after Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo at the party. Another

iv. 136-140). From this quote it can be inferred that Macbeth is concerned for himself because of all of the crimes that he is committed and is scared that people are coming after him. He has already stepped in the river of blood but cannot go back because he is already too deep and plans to continue farther. Holding the guilt of killing the most beloved King and the thought that people are coming after him, drives Macbeth to making poor decisions to protect himself and the use of blood helps the reader to see how insane Macbeth really is. Macbeth is not the only character in the play who goes insane because of guilt, his wife Lady Macbeth too goes insane with holding the guilt of ruining lives of innocent people. At one point she feels so guilty she begins to have hallucinations and even starts sleepwalking and talking. During the night when she was sleepwalking she tried to remove the blood that has stained her hands and becomes extremely paranoid that the blood is not coming off. It can be inferred that even though Lady Macbeth only helped to plan the murders she never actually kill someone, but she still carries the guilt as if she did. Shakespeare is trying to showcase with the motif of blood that no matter what type of crime is committed there is still guilt and

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, different characters deal with the guilt they feel in different ways. Lady Macbeth’s guilt pushes her into madness, and while Macbeth’s guilt does the same, it also pushes him to commit further atrocities. However, Macduff uses his guilt over his family’s death to avenge them. Although the ways in which Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, and Macduff deal with their guilt differ, all of their guilt catalyzes many deaths, including those of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Guilt and accountability therefore are key elements of Macbeth.

Everyone deals with guilt at least one time throughout their life, and several authors use guilt to help build up suspense in their story. Guilt in Macbeth not only affects his mental state of mind, but it also destroys him physically, along with a few other characters such as Lady Macbeth. The characters are affected by guilt so much, that it actually leads to their death essentially, just because they were not able to handle the consequences for the events that occurred. Despite being destroyed by guilt, they were still forced to carry on with their lives and they did have to try to hide it, even though Macbeth was not doing so well with that. His hallucinations were giving him up and eventually everyone knew the he had murdered Duncan

Throughout everyone’s lives every person will face some type of guilt in the most, or least, intense ways. All of this guilt can build up inside of someone and cause them to act differently or their whole life can completely change. This exact situation is strongly brought up in the popular Shakespeare play, Macbeth. In the play, Shakespeare utilizes foreshadowing and many motifs into his writing that shows his audience how exactly Macbeth, and eventually Lady Macbeth, is plagued by guilt.

From almost the beginning of the story the audience is introduced to the motif of guilt when Macbeth is manipulated by his wife to kill the King. Shakespeare introduces this motif in order to further develop the character Macbeth. Before Macbeth kills him he asks himself “Is this a dagger which I see before me” (II,i,44). This shows that Macbeth knew that killing Duncan was wrong but he killed him anyway due to his wife’s manipulation. Macbeth hears voices saying that he won’t ever sleep again due to the guilt that he feels “Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!/ Macbeth does murder sleep”(II.ii. 47-48). After Macbeth kills Duncan he is so regretful that he doesn't think that there is enough water in the ocean to get the blood off of his hands “will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood/Clean from my hand” (II,ii,78-79). Macbeth is so full of regret from killing Duncan that he can not even think about what he has done. Throughout the play Macbeth’s extreme guilt begins to fade as he gains more power and begins to become a tyrant.

In the drama Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores guilt through the various tragedies that befall his characters. Particularly, he proposes that an excess of guilt will lead to one’s demise. In an exchange between Macbeth and his wife after they murder King Duncan, they disclose:

Halloween stores fill with masks covered in blood dripping down their faces to scare children. Blood never seems to be a positive symbol. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth's bloody hands are used to show that she is guilty of what she's done. Once she cleans her hands, she believes she is pure again. Whether Lady Macbeth thinks she can be pure again or not, she never will be. She will be going to Hell. She's committed a crime that cannot be repented. Blood can play a guilt trip on anyone, they kill and will never be forgiven after their action.

In literary history, guilt plays a major role. The nature of and effects of guilt can be heavily weighted at times in both texts. In Macbeth we see plenty of guilt that mostly stems from the macbeth household and the audience then witnesses the true effects of guilt. In  To kill a mockingbird the guilt stems from a very afraid Mayella who is a transparent character that the audience soon sees that she holds the weight of a very guilty conscience. In each of the text the audience follows where the guilt flows and see the true effects of what guilt can do. In Macbeth and To kill a mockingbird the pair of villains in both texts follow a parallel course of action in which they sacrifice the innocent for their own gain, and are not yet satisfied, are ultimately destroyed by their guilty actions.