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Crime And Punishment In Macbeth

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Macbeth, Crime and Punishment
Macbeth, a warrior, earns the title of Thane of Cawdor early in the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, wants him to become king like the witches prophesied. They make a plan to kill Duncan while Macbeth starts to kill other people. All this murder begins to weigh heavily on the Macbeth’s and they start going crazy with guilt. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, guilt can punish people even if they are not caught, which is illustrated with the downfall of the Macbeths.
Shortly after killing Banquo, Macbeth starts to hallucinate and says “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence”(3.4.128-129). This quote shows that Macbeth feels guilt while he is imagining Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth starts to realise that killing …show more content…

Lady Macbeth is trying to cover up Macbeth’s outbursts as he is envisioning the ghost of Banquo; speaking to everyone in the room including Ross, Lennox, and Macbeth, Lady Macbeth says,”I pray you, speak not. He grows worse and worse. Question enrages him”(3.4.144-145). Lady Macbeth sees Macbeth slowly becoming unglued by guilt; he is getting weaker and weaker and Lady Macbeth needs to hide their crime. At first Lady Macbeth did not feel any guilt until things begin to get carried away. Sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth is heard saying, “Here's the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”(5:1:53-55) and“ Out damned spot, out, I say”(5.1.37). Lady Macbeth is saying these things because she is visualizing that there is blood still on her hands representing her extreme guilt because she knows what she did not was wrong. At the end, overcome by guilt and despair Lady Macbeth commits suicide.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both are driven by their ambitions; ambitions that lead them to their downfall. They get what they want by any means necessary. Unfortunately, this does not lead to their happiness and their actions cause them to be burdened with quilt. Shakespeare uses the Macbeths to teach us that it is not always the thing that you get but also the way you achieve it. Even if you do something bad and do not get caught for it, the punishment will catch up to you at

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