Approximately 18.1 percent of adults in the U.S experience an anxiety disorder such as PTSD, OCD and other phobias. Therefore, mental illness and guilt can come as a result of committing a violent crime. Such as in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. In the play Lady Macbeth develops a anxiety disorder that closely resembles PTSD after she forces Macbeth to murder King Duncan. She forces Macbeth to murder the king in order for him to fulfill the witches prophecies and become king.
In the beginning of the passage Lady Macbeth states, “ Yet here’s a spot. Out damned spot, out, I say” (5.1.33,37). The spot Lady Macbeth is referencing is the blood that is stained on her and Macbeth's hands. The blood left on their hands is torturing Lady Macbeth as she is starting to feel remorseful as she is subconsciously reliving the horrific violent crime. In reliving the horrific murder she is starting to develop a mental illness which later leads to her suicide. That mental illness closely resembles PTSD as she is having flashbacks of the murder she pushed Macbeth to commit while she is asleep.
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This shows Lady Macbeth's feeling of remorse while she relives the violent murder in her sleep. In the words “the old man to have so much blood in him”(5.1.41-42) she is not only referencing King Duncan's murder but all of the murders that Macbeth committed. This also shows how she is questioning why she pushed him to commit the murder. As well as questioning the fact that she had no idea that he would become so paranoid and start on a murder spree. Lady Macbeth believed that it was a one murder deal. Only the murder of Duncan in order for Macbeth to become king and fulfill the witches prophecies. However, even just that one murder leads to her