Macbeth's Guilt

In the tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare conveys the belief that success can be obtained by dishonesty. There are many things that Macbeth has that makes him more project than others, starting with the guilt and remorse. The guilt became more intense when macbeth came to reality that he had just stabbed Duncan. Macbeth easily prevails over his situation of guilt and remorse, while Lady Macbeth is still struggling. “Out, damned spot!

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 the gut punching feeling inside in which you feel you could’ve done something to prevent an action that has gone wrong. We feel so powerless to stop it and eats us on the inside until we finally do the right thing. The play Macbeth, reveals how in the end your guilt will overpower your conscience and will eventually lead you to your greatest downfall. The theme of guilt as revealed in Macbeth, continues to relate to modern society. The guilt in Macbeth compares to many situations with society, for example, a murderer and suicidal people.

After hearing the weird sister, his ambition got the best of him .He considered murdering Duncan and the morality of the murder. Guilt plays a large role in how he acts after he commits their crimes. But guilt isn’t so obvious with Macbeth ,before he kill’s Duncan ,Macbeth feels guilt and consider backing out of the murder, but lady Macbeth won’t let him, “But Screw your courage to the sticking place, And we’ll not Fail “,(I, IV,70-71).Once again Macbeth sees that what he is doing wrong ,but he doesn’t let that stop him. As Duncan led him to feel paranoid and a lust for power, he kills the king despite his better judgment. Throughout the scene there are several quotes that show this “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more”, (II, II, 51-52). This shows the amount of guilt his feels. He describe by saying “who was that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, you do unbend your noble strength, Go get some water And wash this filthy witness from your hand.” (II, II, 58-61). As Macbeth seeks to free himself of guilt he realize he suffer guilt as he seeks for ambitions

Macbeth is seen as a “valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” (I, ii, 24). He is a brave warrior who is well respected in his community, until the witches prophesied to him that he would one day be king (I, iii, 50). Macbeth interprets that he must act to fulfill the prophecy. He sends a letter to lady Macbeth asking what to do. She suggests that he should kill Duncan. Macbeth follows the plan and kills Duncan (II, ii, 15). Directly following the murder Macbeth can no longer say amen

3. 157-159) Macbeth’s arrogance is made apparent with the immediacy of his thoughts of becoming king and it is clear that the supernatural has given him arrogant ambition as Macbeth is already beginning to think of how he will be crowned king. Macbeth eventually decides he will show his “Black and deep desires” (1. 4. 58) and murder Duncan, the current king of Scotland. This is a shift from Macbeth showing loyalty to Scotland and the king as he now has arrogantly, for the benefit of himself becoming king, murdered Duncan, the king of Scotland. Duncan was greatly admired and respected by the population of Scotland. Macbeth himself describes Duncan as “meek” (1. 7. 17) and being “so clear in his great office” (1. 7. 18). When Macduff first realizes the death of Duncan, he describes the scene as: “O horror, horror, horror!” (2. 3. 73) Macbeth acknowledges that the reaction to Duncan’s death would be mournful before murdering him: “Pity… / Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, / That tears shall drown the wind” (1.7. 21-25). However, Macbeth’s only goal is to become king, not to please the population of Scotland who admires their king greatly and sees him as a righteous person. After tempting Macbeth with the idea of becoming king, the supernatural gives Macbeth arrogant ambition, forcing him to contrast his loyal and courageous personality, which motivates him to kill Duncan.

“You Can’t Understand” Spencer Polk “He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land—I mean literally. You can’t understand. How could you?—with solid pavement under your feet, surrounded by kind neighbours ready to cheer you or to fall on you, stepping delicately between the butcher and the policeman, in the holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums—how can you imagine what particular region of the first ages a man’s untrammelled feet may take him into by the way of solitude—utter solitude without a policeman—by the way of silence—utter silence, where no warning voice of a kind neighbour can be heard whispering of public opinion?” (p.44)

Throughout the play, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Shakespeare alludes several concepts towards the idea that corrupting power and unchecked ambition often leads to one’s inability to escape the burden of their self perceived guilt. In contrast to her previous determination to kill Duncan, in the excerpt from Act 5 , scene 1 , of the play, Lady Macbeth is indirectly characterized as guilt ridden from committing regicide and the nonessential murders that followed afterwards. In Lady Macbeth’s character developement, Shakespeare displays an extensive use of symbolism, hyperbole, and both synecdoche and metonymy throughout the passage to characterize her new conscience-stricken character. And all while keeping a regretful, yet condemned,

Macbeth has been scrutinized over time and is universally known as one of Shakespeare’s best plays. It tells the tale of corruption, greed, ambition, and the cost of power. Lady Macbeth said, “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?” (I.v.39-41). As the tale of Macbeth continued, Lady Macbeth continued to change as a person. She became fragile and unstable, consumed by her guilt. Shakespeare wrote, “Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed,” (V.i.4-5). Lady Macbeth became distraught to the point where she was unable to sleep because of the immense guilt that plagued her mind. Subsequent to this,, the guilt that presented itself with the power destroyed her. Although

In the play Macbeth, every single character is put through some difficult emotional and physical pain, and each one of them ends up in different situations and outcome. Lady Macbeth is comparable to the potato in the boiling water analogy. She is evil and tougher than her husband. She encourages murder and trickery in order to gain more power for herself and her husband. Although, after the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth must go place the daggers on the guards’ bodies to frame them. This haunts her and causes her to have a sleeping walking and talking problem. The audience learns this towards the end of the play when she is shown trying to wash the imaginary blood off her hands because she is overwhelmed with guilt and fear. Therefore,

This shows that Macbeth is already feeling guilty about killing King Duncan before he even did it. Even though Macbeth was loyal to Duncan, he is so power-hungry that he irrationally kills his leader. Secondly, Macbeth starts to become insane when he experiences nightmares

the story line Macbeth begins to use murder to rule and cannot avoid tyranny, which has lead him too committing the cruel and unusual punishment to many lives. The guilt, the death of many people including his wife and further more himself; was it all worth it for the power? The only question is if he had not told his wife and let time unfold his true fate, or if the witches had never for told the future; would have he ever committed these sins? I think not. His deceiving wife plays the biggest part in his actions, for example when she urges him to kill Duncan in the very beginning, you can feel the tension in his finger tips as he is waiting for the sound of the bell. In my opinion Macbeth is not the natural born murderer he was claimed

Guilt: The Gift That Keeps on Giving In The Scottish Play, by William Shakespeare it's explores through many characters mental stability when put through fear on guilt. The play has many scenes where important characters like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience supernatural behaviors when feeling fear and guilt over the murders they participated in as king and queen. Lady Macbeth’s ambition to be queen was over powering her thoughts, so she helped kill king Duncan, but the repercussions of her actions, and thoughts, caused her to have “hallucinations” and to sleep walk. The harsh reality of guilt was symbolized in The Scottish Play, by William Shakespeare, by showing how a guilty conscience can literally crush you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Specifically in Act V, Scene 1, while sleepwalking with her eyes open, Lady Macbeth says, “

Because Macbeth has the desire to have the throne, he establishes the idea that in order to become king he has to kill king Duncan so that nothing stands in his way of being king.

Through the lesson we have been learning about many themes in the play. Examples of the themes would be guilt, ambition, things are not what they seem and fate versus free will.