Guilt and Conscience in Shakespeare’s Macbeth Essay

It is simultaneously the high point of Macbeth’s reign and also the beginning of his downfall. As Macbeth goes to sit at the head of the table, he sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in his chair, but it is a hallucination, only seen by Macbeth. It is a form of his guilty conscience. Lady Macbeth, trying to protect him from possible suspicions, tries to calm him and tells the guests that it is something that can just be ignored. After this, Macbeth realizes that he has too much guilt to continue the series of murders. He becomes aware that he is a mass destroyer. But only interested in his future, he is determined to proceed in his path of destruction.

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 worst demon to bear, strangling you from the inside of your body,” according to Nikita Gill, well known author and poet. An increasing number of bad decisions can greatly affect one's character that will in the end, lead to guilt. Having possession of too much guilt can overpower an individual and make them feel helpless. Guilt can be detrimental to one's overall health and wellbeing. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth was consumed by impatience and commits multiple acts of murder, including the killing of Duncan and Banquo. He later feels a tremendous amount of guilt due his decision of denying his conscience. He experiences severe guilt that affects his mind severely.

Shakespeare also utilizes the theme of appearance and reality. The classic dagger scene, when Macbeth is not sure if he can trust his eyes, is only one of many references to this theme. For instance, he sees Banquo's ghost at the banquet and Lady Macbeth imagines blood on her hands. Banquo talks about the 'cursed thoughts' he has had and his dreams of the witches. Macbeth talks of the world of thought and dreams and sometimes becomes lost within it. Lady Macbeth is critical of Macbeth's 'foolish thoughts' and talks of him being 'lost' because of this. The idea of sleep is also integrated, as Macbeth is told he has murdered sleep and will 'sleep no more' whilst Lady Macbeth thinks of sleep as death, calling it the sternest 'goodnight'.

Macbeth is so guilty over the murder of King Duncan that he wishes he could wake him back up again and undo the terrible act he has committed. Even later in the play, Macbeth is haunted by a vision of bloody Banquo from his subconscious due to how guilty he was after he ordered his death. Even though he hid the feeling after Banquo's death, he couldn't stop the guilt inside from affecting him. The theme of guilt in Macbeth, is a representation that wrong doings aren't something that can be buried. The guilt will continue to torment until it is conquered. One can either own up to it and face the consequences, or be cursed to live a forever guilty life.

The hallucinations of Macbeth take a toll on him as the thought of killing Macbeth is unsettling to him. His hallucinations allow him to reflect on the decisions he is about to make and has made. Before entering the bedroom of King Duncan, Macbeth is paranoid of killing the King and visualizes a bloody dagger pointing towards the King’s bedroom.

MacBeth deprivation of sleep also caused hallucinations of death. One scenario is after Banquo is killed and MacBeth sees his ghost at the dinner table. He then proceeds to speak to it saying “But now they rise again, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools,” arousing questions and suspicion from his friends (3.4.83-85). Towards the end of the play, Lady MacBeth becomes very sick and as the doctor found from her sleepwalking, tells MacBeth that her disease is something “the patient, Must minister to himself,” because the doctor knew her sickness was her guilty conscience (5.3.48). The sickness, or her guilt within was too much for Lady McBeth to carry, so in the end, she ends up killing herself, proving that a guilty, fearful mind cannot be something covered up in sleep. MacBeth also ends up dying in the end as well, showing that his unreasonable actions, caused by the lack of a clear conscious and peaceful mind all come from his lack of a good-night’s

Since 1606, Macbeth has revealed more information about human nature in regards to how evil actions can affect a person’s innocence. In Macbeth, Shakespeare has created two contrasting characters which highlight the importance of staying away from committing evil actions so that an individual can benefit in the end. Innocence is often overlooked in everyday life and is sometimes considered a weakness, this point is proved through the characterization of Lady Macbeth. However, through the characterization of Macbeth, the reader realizes that evildoers will never be fully satisfied with their lives because they will always have a strong feeling of guilt. In the tragedy Macbeth, Shakespeare uses imagery and the characterization of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, to prove his point that humans are inherently good but, can commit evil actions that will ultimately lead them to their downfall due to their overpowering feeling of

The tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare offers a harrowing and confronting glimpse into the devolution of its title character, Macbeth. As ambition and lust for power corrupts Macbeth’s very way of being the audience witnesses a once formidable and great warrior turn into a paranoid and murderous tyrant. Macbeth’s downfall illustrates the consequences of when ambition transforms into a disregard of an individual’s moral code but is it entirely Macbeth’s fault? An honourable and loyal solider who was willing to die for his king can’t simply turn into a traitor without some outside influences. Macbeth’s quick descent into madness highlights how greater forces force him to go against his moral judgement, specifically in the form of his dotting wife, Lady Macbeth, the three witches he encounters and Macbeth’s very nature.

After Macbeth and his wife had gained power by killing multiple people, they were consumed by guilt from all they had done. This guilt was so immense that both Macbeth and his wife started to experience visions relating to the murders they had committed. Every person has experienced guilt at some point in their life. This guilt could come from something as simple as stealing a dollar bill from someone, or as horrific as taking someone’s life. The feeling and theme of guilt will never lose its relevance, making it another example of Macbeth’s truly timeless

In today's society, men and women alike are often faced with difficult decisions that conflict with his or her morals. Whether it is a person's sense of right and wrong, or his or her ability to distinguish between social and nonsocial acceptable behavior; everyone faces these dilemmas at some point or another. In William Shakespeare’s world renowned play Macbeth, the characters, especially the protagonist Macbeth, struggle with maintaining moral integrities. This goes in part with the idea that Macbeth’s behavior throughout the play is affected by his anguish to become both the man the witches prophesied and remain a moral man. There are three main things which haunt Macbeth. First, Macbeth's vaulting ambition is one of the reasons why his

After Macbeth commits such a treacherous act of murder, he starts to hear voices. Macbeth’s hallucinations make him believe he hears someone crying in his sleep. Filled with fear Macbeth states, “Methought I heard a voice cry…Balm of heart minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast,” which shows the consequence he has to suffer for killing Duncan to proclaim the title as King of Scotland (II. ii.35-40). Macbeth’s guilt from murdering Duncan shows the importance of Macbeth wanting to kill other people to keep his title as king. Macbeth’s guilty conscience allows him to kill others because he does not want people to take away his power as king. Macbeth’s mental sleep result from his obsessive and

A major dynamic theme is guilt. Guilt is defined as a feeling of responsibility or remorse of for some offense or crime. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, not one but multiple crimes are committed. After witches revealed Macbeth’s future, which included him taking the throne, he debated whether to murder his cousin, Duncan. Thoughts

Shakespeare's Macbeth is not the most complex one play, but it is certainly one of his most powerful and emotionally intense. Macbeth is weak character. Moreover, Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition and guilt can have on a man who lacks strength of character. Certainly, Macbeth is character worth for deep analysis owing to the fact that trough the play there are escalations and changes on emotional level within the Macbeth, as a result of his proceedings and becoming a murder.

The story of Macbeth written by the infamous William Shakespeare is an excellent storyline known and taught as a great piece of literature. Even after the creation of this tale almost 400 years ago, this wonderful written work is still admired and known all over the world. It is an adventure of a noble and truthful hero who is overcome by the lust for power and by greed. His aroused hunger for authority and supremacy leads to him losing his path and turning to the way of malice. The play progresses, as this character plays deeper and deeper into Satan 's evil hand. Through the growth of this malevolent character, the story grows and develops as well. Each and every move this character makes affects someone