Examples Of Lady Macbeth's Guilt

Although introduced as a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth’s seemingly unbreakable character shatters when she is consumed by the demon of guilt. The guilt of Lady Macbeth seems nonexistent when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but the heinous acts she and her husband commit throughout the play strain her slowly. Eventually, the guilt Lady Macbeth harbors emerges from her subconscious and crumbles her. The downfall of Lady Macbeth reveals that even the toughest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt. At the commencement of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the guilty conscience of Lady Macbeth is overshadowed by her relentless pursuit to become Queen of Scotland. The ambitious path Lady Macbeth

(Act 1, Scene 7)
Through the power of manipulation, Lady Macbeth powerfully challenges Macbeth to commit to the plan to murder King Duncan by exclaiming “screw your courage to the sticking-place. And we’ll not fail.” (Act I, Scene 7) It is through her words that Lady Macbeth has her husband, Macbeth, murder King Duncan and achieve her great desire to become Queen of Scotland. Unfortunately, the death of King Duncan begins Macbeth’s reign of tyranny, which also begins the emergence of Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience. As a result of serving as a catalyst that effectively unleashes Macbeth’s true side of evil, Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience begins to surface. Immediately upon becoming King of Scotland, Macbeth’s wicked and selfish ambitions to achieve absolute dominance over the throne begins his murderous reign of tyranny. As a result of serving a major role in influencing her husband to take the path that he does, Lady Macbeth expresses her guilty feelings by

Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!” (Act 5, Scene 1) Though she continuously rubs her hands to get rid of the blood, Lady Macbeth can not washed away the guilt that stains her hands. As a result of her inability to escape the nightmare of immense guilt in sleeping or in wakefulness, Lady Macbeth crosses into the state of eternal sleep, death. In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates that a guilty conscience is a mind-probing enemy that can strike quietly and become a deadly, overpowering force that can subdue anyone with remorse. Through Lady Macbeth’s character transformation, the effects of a guilty conscience can thoroughly be seen. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is an ambitious character that can repress her guilt to perform evil to a high extent. However, as the play progresses, the gradual diminishing of Lady Macbeth’s stone-like ruthlessness becomes visible as she deals with the guilt that stains her hands. As Lady Macbeth attempts to cleanse herself of the guilt she harbors in her mind, it becomes evident that guilt is a demon. A demon that if not dealt