Guilt Theme in Shakespeare

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.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the theme of guilt and conscience is one of many explored throughout the play. Macbeth, is a well respected Scottish noble who in the beginning of the play is a man everyone looks up to; however as the play progresses he makes a number of bad decisions. Eventually, as a result of his actions he suffers guilt and this plays heavily upon his character until his personality is completely destroyed. Shakespeare uses a range of techniques in order to develop this theme such as, characters, imagery.

He is seen again delaying his revenge due to over thinking when refusing to kill Claudius in a moment of weakness. The prince’s reluctance to murder the praying king and thus sending him directly to heaven is ironic due to the fact that Claudius is unable to confess his sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. The readers once again observe Hamlet’s failure to execute his responsibility due to his overwhelming desire to perform the perfect revenge.

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.

Equivalently in the play Hamlet, the theme of guilt was developed through Hamlet and his most hateful enemy, King Claudius. Hamlet experiences guilt when he recognizes that he has not yet avenged his father’s death and in Act I Scene ii Hamlet reveals that he is upset and disappointed with himself, as he has not taken any actions to attain revenge from Claudius, the murderer of his father. Hamlet then calls himself, "a peasant slave" and questions, "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do, Had he motive and cue for passion That I have?" (Shakespeare, II, ii, 529. 538-541). Furthermore, Hamlet later decides to relief his overwhelming guilt by commanding the actors to re-enact his father’s death through The Murder of Gonzago, (Shakespeare, III, ii, 284), in order to confirm that the ghost was being truthful and Claudius did kill his father, “May be the devil, and the devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds More relative than this. The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch

Some say it’s ‘bothered conscience’, Some describe it as ‘a feeling of culpability for offences. ‘ but it is much more than that. Guilt is an underestimated aspect of human life. A person living with guilt can be elucidated like a prisoner who dreams to be a free man like Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank redemption. But on the contras Andy was not living with guilt whereas an guilty man like Amir was ; the guilt changed Amir as a boy and made him mentally caged.

. . (If Hamlet ever loved his father he will) Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.? Hamlet is possessed with waiting for the right opportunity to commit murder upon King Claudius, even passing up open opportunities when the king is knelt deep in prayer but changes his mind. He reasons that if the King is killed in prayer he will go to heaven, and he will wait for a time when he can catch him in the middle of sin so he will for sure send the king to hell.

A very common theme in classical literature is guilt, and the ways that it manifests itself in a character. Guilt is the feeling of remorse or responsibility for a crime or moral offence, whether it is real or hypothetical. Every person on Earth will have a run in with guilt, and it impacts each person in a different manner. The different impacts of guilt are strikingly visible when comparing Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In The Scarlet Letter, we see Arthur Dimmesdale’s struggle with internalized guilt, while the titular character and his lady in Macbeth continually feel guilt due to their actions that affect many people around them, but the couple does not strive to change their ways. The

“Guilt” means that a person feels regret after doing harmful to other people or himself. This can be found through the feelings and behaviours of a person. In the novel of Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, the theme of guilt is demonstrated through a number of events happened in this story with many characters. First of all, the incident of snowball leads to a great guilt to Dunstan.

Despite Claudius’s former lack of distress, Claudius’s does wish to be freed from the weighty burden of his sin. However, Claudius’s does not regret the possession he retains from the murder of his brother and confesses “I am still possessed//Of those effects for which I did murder:// My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. Although, Claudius’s confesses to the murder of King Hamlet and ask for repentance and forgiveness, he is by no means regretful of the effects he now possess, and admits that he is “possessed” by the “crown”, “ambition”, and “queen”. He feels that his soul is struggling against the very notion: “limited soul, that, struggling to be free, art more engaged”(3.3 72-74). Claudius personifies that his soul is stuck to sin, and admits that more he tries to be free, the more it clings to sin. He looks then for divine intervention from “angel” ,so that he can retrograde back to a “babe”, the previous state of innocence he once possessed. Though Claudius begs for divine intervention from God and prays, he does not feel remorseful towards his brother’s death but for the ramifications caused by it; because he is unable to pray for the right cause and repent for his sin, Claudius is unable to receive mercy.

At a point in someone’s lifetime guilt will push them over the edge and drive them crazy. It could just be a mild deed like lying to you parents about sneaking out at night or an extreme deed like robbing or even murdering a person. In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth is driven to insanity because of all the guilt that he holds. Macbeth is not the only character in the play who goes insane because of guilt that they carry. In fact there are so many characters who have guilt that it is a main theme in the play. Shakespeare uses many different strategies to portray this theme like imagery, symbolism, motifs, and irony. Although some may argue that symbolism is the most prominent strategy

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.

Guilt is essential in Macbeth, because it evokes our conscience to feel emotion and regret. Macbeth, is written by William Shakespeare, a story about a power-hungry and ambitious leader who does many vicious acts to gain power. After murdering Duncan and hiring people to kill his friend Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son he feels major guilt. Macbeth is living a miserable life; he can not sleep and is always thinking about what he has done. Guilt is a good emotion to feel; it means one has feelings and emotions even after committing a serious crime. The people Macbeth murders are innocent; he has no reason to kill them. Macbeth does all of this for himself; he is very full of himself and he does not care what has to be done to get what he wants. He always wants everything to go his way, no matter who gets hurt.