Effects Of Guilt In Macbeth

Saadia Mahmood
Ms. V. Miles
ENG 4U1
20 January 2023
Guilt: A Feeling Even Time Cannot Always Heal Human emotion is a powerful force, capable of influencing one’s thoughts, actions, and behaviours. One of these powerful emotions is guilt, which can consume an individual’s conscience and take control of their actions. The effects of this emotion are illustrated in William Shakespeare’s famous play Macbeth in which the main character, Macbeth is consumed by guilt for his actions. In attempt to realize the prophecies of his kingship, Macbeth commits the murder of King Duncan. Following this, he employs assassins to kill his closest ally, Banquo, in an effort to conceal his previous transgressions. Macbeth becomes so plagued with guilt

Similar to Shakespeare’s depiction of guilt, in Natsuki Takaya’s manga series Fruits Baskets, the character Kana is also plagued with guilt. She falls in love with a cursed member of the zodiac, Hatori Sohma, and feels immense guilt due to the impact their relationship has on Hatori. Upon requesting the blessing of their marriage from the head of the family, Akito Sohma, Hatori is rejected and physically assaulted by Akito leading to an injury in his left eye. The family head blames all this on Kana, which causes her to fall into a self-destructive spiral of guilt resulting in her isolating herself. To save Kana from her destructive thoughts, Hatori erases all of her memories of their relationship. Though Hatori managed to save Kana, it was clear she was not going to get better unless she could forgive herself, and though her guilt did not lead to her demise like the aforementioned characters, it led to the downfall of her loving relationship with Hatori. Through these examples, one can draw the idea that when one is consumed by the feeling of guilt, the inability to accept and

The character Kana, is plagued with guilt and is unable to process it, leading to the downfall of her relationship. When Hatori, the eldest of the cursed zodiac members, falls in love with a normal woman named Kana, he fears what she would think when she sees his true identity. However, when it comes time, Kana is accepting, she wants nothing more than to be with him. The two remain in a relationship for a couple of months before realizing they want to get married. When Hatori takes this to the head of his family, Akito, and begs for her blessing of their marriage an altercation occurs. Akito becomes angry and violent, injuring Hatori’s left eye. Kana, who is there to witness all this faces a lot of trauma from the incident. Though Akito was in the wrong, she blames it all on Kana, stating that if she had never gotten involved with Hatori, or made him beg for her to let them get married, none of this would have happened to him. She makes Kana believe that it was her fault. That the havoc caused in the family and the injury to Hatori are all because of Kana. Akito’s words are taken straight to Kana’s heart. Not only was she traumatized but she was also so consumed by guilt, feeling like it was her fault that the love of her life faced such an injury. Kana cannot not bring herself to come to terms with what has happened, leading her to begin having psychotic episodes, and be in a constant