Guilt In Macbeth

Shakespeare is a renowned writer, having created 37+ plays between the years of 1590 and 1613. You may know some of his most famous works such as Hamlet or Macbeth. These stories explore themes and ideas that are timeless with their messages and themes. Macbeth was one of his last works, which was written just a few years before his death. Macbeth explores a plethora of ideas from Power to Fate vs. Free Will. In Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the idea that guilt eventually leads to madness throughout the play as seen by the characters Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and their effect on others.
Macbeth is a prime example of how guilt and madness correspond with each other. Being the protagonist, we can track this from the very first scene. This starts

As previously mentioned, Lady Macbeth was an accomplice in King Duncan's murder. Not only that, but she encouraged Macbeth to go along with the plan she created. Duncan’s murder, and the other atrocities committed by Macbeth, have clearly taken a toll on Lady Macbeth. Act 5 opens with a scene between two side characters, A doctor and one of Lady Macbeth's servants. Lady Macbeth is unwell, and needs medical attention. She had been sleepwalking, and talking during it. “Out, damned spot, out I say! One. Two. Why then, ‘tis time to do ‘t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What we need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him” (5.1.37-42) She's pictured washing blood- that isn’t there -off of her hands. No matter what she does, she cannot seem to get it off. Not to mention she’s speaking in prose. One other character in Macbeth speaks in prose, and that is the Porter, the comic relief of the story. In other plays written by Shakespeare, prose is reserved for the lower class and or the crazy. With Lady Macbeth being the queen, it’s safe to say that she is going mad in this scene. The guilt of killing Duncan, along with the murders of others- such as the death of Macduff's wife -has driven her to insanity. They haven’t just driven her to do bold things, the side characters have also been

With their power they have the ability to do almost anything they want, Macbeth uses this to his advantage. He doesn’t stop at killing King Duncan or Banquo, he continues on with the streak. Macduff goes to England to speak with Malcom, and Macbeth sees this as traitorous, therefore, he plans to kill his wife and kids. When Macduff finds out, he is rightfully horrified. “Sinful Macduff, They were all struck for thee! Naught that I am, not for their own demerits, but for mine, fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now.” Malcolm then encourages him to put his rage into fighting against the tyrant that is Macbeth. Not only Macduff has been affected by this, but Malcolm, and dare I say the entirety of Scotland. In Act 5, an entire rebellion marches toward Dunsinane, where Macbeth resides. Malcolm leads this army, an army of his subjects who have been negatively affected by all these acts he's committed out of his madness. It's important to look at the story as a whole, how did it start? How did it