Effects Of Guilt In Macbeth

Guilt is a fate far worse than death. An emotion as influential as guilt has the ability to plague one’s mind and drive one to the brink of insanity. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, the continuous appearance of blood symbolizes the guilt tormenting the mind of the central character, Macbeth. Macbeth’s inclination toward power leads him down a dark path of becoming king and results in the murder of various innocents. Although Macbeth may be perceived as a vicious tyrant, it is the effect of guilt on his conscience, not his eagerness to become king, that truly sabotages his mind. The aftermath of Macbeth’s unjustifiable choices induces his complex interactions with blood and, despite his gradual progression into inhumanity, ultimately

Macbeth’s guilt and paranoia begin to bombard his mind prior to his first irredeemable act. The opportunity of attaining great power is introduced to Macbeth when three witches with an appetite for chaos prophesize his future as king. The prospect of procuring such power fuels Macbeth’s ambition and provokes him to seize the crown by murdering the current king, Duncan. After Duncan designates Macbeth as the new Thane of Cawdor, he announces he will go to Inverness, Macbeth’s castle, to celebrate Macbeth’s accomplishments. Given a shot at killing Duncan, Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth, arranges the details of Duncan's murder for her husband. Meanwhile, Macbeth anxiously awaits Lady Macbeth’s signal, envisioning a dagger floating in front of him, the tip pointing toward Duncan’s chambers. Examining the dagger, Macbeth remarks on the presence of blood on its tip, noting to himself, “I see thee still, and, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood, which was not so before” (Shakespeare II.I). Blood displayed on the dagger serves as the initial sign of Macbeth’s guilt over the murder he’s about to commit. The hallucination leading Macbeth to Duncan exemplifies how he’s already fearing the consequences of what he’s

After stabbing Duncan with the guard’s knives, a distressed Macbeth returns to his chambers with bloody daggers in hand. Upon realizing that her husband—who refuses to return to the scene—forgot to frame the guards of Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth frantically seizes the daggers and heads off to complete the task. Macbeth, now alone and mortified, instantly contemplates and regrets his actions. His hands freshly covered in Duncan’s blood, Macbeth inquires to himself, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Shakespeare II.II). Macbeth dramatizes that not even the power of all the oceans could rid Duncan’s blood from his hands, with the blood signifying the agonizing guilt piercing his conscience. Deducing that he will never be able to cleanse away his guilt, Macbeth concludes that Duncan’s death is his eternal burden to bear. Convinced of his punishment, Macbeth remarks that his hands will “rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red” (Shakespeare II.II). Rather than the sea washing away Duncan’s blood and Macbeth’s guilt, all of the water would become tainted with it. Macbeth’s troubled relationship with blood is fashioned from the outcome of his role in Duncan’s murder. Aware that he can’t take back what he has done, the appearance of blood once again elucidates the enormity of Macbeth’s guilt. Instantaneously after Duncan’s death,