Guilt In Macbeth

The play Macbeth portrays a theme of ambition through the play making it clear that ambition that leads to guilt is a force of corruption. Macbeth has been thinking about whether he should or should not murder King Duncan. He concludes that the only thing motivating him is his “spur,” otherwise known as his ambition, which leads to more murder and insanity. Macbeth’s ambition leads him to kill Duncan which shows guilt, regret, and a decline in the sanity of Macbeth’s character. William Shakespeare’s play portrays a constant theme of guilt. Some of the significant elements that represent guilt are clear throughout the play; furthermore, guilt is symbolized through visions, blood, and hallucinations. For instance, after Macbeth makes the huge

Macbeth is beginning to feel extreme regret he starts to have hallucinations of blood this strongly supports the theme of regret that is driven by ambition throughout the play. "Mine eyes are made the fools o'th other senses,/Or else worth all the rest: I see thee still;/And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,/Which was not so before. There's no such thing.” This is where Macbeth's regret starts to eat him alive, he sees visions of blood. The ‘gout of blood’ is insinuating the regret Macbeth is feeling. His regret gets more prevalent and leads to obsessing over the thoughts of murder, Macbeth is slowly but surely losing his sanity. His ambition is what led to all the murders he has caused and shows that regret is very powerful and is ultimately what drove him to his death. In this next scene, Macbeth has just killed King Duncan, and he feels extreme regret after the murder of the king which ties in with the theme of Ambition. "One cried, 'God bless us!' and "Amen" the other,/As they had seen me with these hangman's hands./List'ning their fear I could not say "Amen",/When they did say 'God bless us!'’(Shakespeare II.i 43-46) He commits this murder with his ambition to become the king but his feeling of regret is slowly destroying him. Macbeth expresses the words ‘Amen’, God bless us!’ have

Macbeth sees Banquos ghost and shouts (“Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!”). Macbeth is horrified and Lady Macbeth attempts to reassure the guests that Macbeth is unwell and tells Macbeth to stop. The ghost then disappears and Macbeth appears calm. A few moments later Banquos ghost reappears and Macbeth is so visibly unstable that Lady Macbeth tells the thanes to leave which is then what leads Macbeth to visit the witches the next day. Macbeth uses the witches as comfort when he feels things are going wrong. The appearance of Banquo and Fleances ghosts escaping left him worried, so he tells the witches “I conjure you by that which you profess/ However you come to know it-answer me”(Shakespeare IV.i 51-52). This shows that Macbeth is starting to get nervous and worried. He is demanding the witches give him more prophecies, Macbeth has reached his lowest point in the play and is losing all sanity left in him. This also shows that he has lost a significant amount of confidence in himself and gained more trust in the supernatural. This thought process all came from the root of his ambition to do impulsive things and that came with an extreme amount of insanity because his ambition made him do so much wrong that he can no longer think straight. He has completely lost himself just to fulfill his ambition that which