Effects Of Guilt In Macbeth

The Poison in Power Guilt can make people act in unpredictable ways and cause internal struggles. The same guilt goes hand-in-hand with grasping power, which has existed since before the seventeenth century. No matter the stature attained, the blame still presents itself, for even the noblest citizens can fall victim to guilt and experience internal struggle. As a matter of fact, William Shakespeare exposes the effects of guilt in his tragedy Macbeth. Throughout the play, Macbeth struggles immensely to procure Scotland's throne, and these efforts tore him apart and created internal conflict. Ultimately, these internal struggles led to Macbeth’s downfall and death. Macbeth’s hardships are revealed during his hallucination of the dagger,

Shakespeare outlines Macbeth’s strange behaviors as a result of his extensive thought about the murder subject. It is evident that Macbeth exemplifies the guilt and consequences that accompany sinful choices throughout the hallucination as the placement of the handle is specifically towards his hand. Subsequently, the hallucination exclusively affects the mind, “a dagger of the mind, a false creation” and the mind controls everything else (2.1,37). In this soliloquy, Shakespeare magnifies the parasitic nature of guilt as even when identified, it can still have a tremendous impact on one’s mind. Here, Macbeth demonstrates this effect on the mind as he understands his hallucinations are not real, yet he can still not diminish them. All in all, once the guilt takes over, people’s thoughts and actions are manipulated and become

Macbeth displays his pessimistic nature as he believes “ life’s but a walking shadow”, he is essentially giving up for good (5.5,24). The metaphor behind this soliloquy is for Shakespeare to convey to the audience that Macbeth is a very different person. After he struggles and gains power, he no longer has the will to live. Universally, the struggle to gain power can result in dissatisfaction and can change a person’s entire perspective and outlook on life itself. During his same soliloquy, Macbeth explains how hard his life has been and there is no hope as “to-morrow creeps in this petty place from day to day”, nothing can save him now (5.5,24). The author highlights that at one point Macbeth had all the power he ever wanted, yet he lost it just as quickly due to his malevolent nature. Furthermore, once the struggle to achieve power has reached its climax, there is no escaping its consequences, people become engulfed in guilt and selfishness until eventually, they give up on life entirely. To conclude, a power struggle can change a person entirely, they lose their will to live and the light in their life burns out completely; the hope is