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Why Is Guilt Important In Macbeth

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Whenever someone does something wrong there is always that voice in their head saying, Is this right? Should I be doing this? That shows that even though one might be doing something completely immoral they have that hint of humanity inside of them prompting them to consider their actions, and that is known as our guilty conscience. Someone once said “Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It’s a black wall. It’s a thief.” Guilt is something no one can escape no matter how evil of a person they are. It will make it hard for an individual to move on with their life without invading their thoughts. Guilt will make a person hard to live with themselves until it consistently reminds them of what they have …show more content…

At first, guilt starts to overcome Macbeth when he kills Duncan. When Macbeth approaches his wife after killing Duncan it is apparent to the readers that he starts to feel ashamed of what he has just done. Macbeth is shown to be as someone who is fearless and nothing will get in the way of what he wants to achieve, but as soon as the ambition of him becoming king starts taking over and he acts upon his intentions, the guilt as well slowly starts taking over. As it states in the play; “I’ll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not” (Act II Scene II Line 65-67). Macbeth says this to his wife after she tells him to put the daggers back at the place of the murder, but he refuses saying that he cannot go back and it scares him to look at what he has done. We get to see more of Macbeth’s character through this, how he is unable to witness what he has just done because he cannot believe how cruel he has become in to getting what he wants. In the beginning of the book when he slays the traitor he does not feel guilty about it but feels proud because he knows he did

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