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Guilt In Macbeth

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After being involved in a distressing situation, we always attempt to convince ourselves that we are not deserving of the consequences. However, feelings of discomfort always seem to accompany us, also known as guilt. In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Guilt is a major theme portrayed throughout. Lady Macbeth is driven by this guilt due to committing regicide and is propelled to suicide. I believe that Lady Macbeth is extremely deserving of this guilty conscience. She had conceived the idea of implementing this crime, relentlessly teased her husband for feeling guilty for taking part, and showed no sign of remorse for taking the king’s life. I like to assume that she is the principal antagonist in Macbeth.

Macbeth was the one who physically stabbed …show more content…

Lady Macbeth's remorse appears nonexistent when she convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan. She also requests spirits to ‘un-sex’ her so all the weaknesses she had of being a female can vanish from her, forming her to be stronger. She quotes “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. Fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, stop up th’access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between rh’effect and it.” The horrific actions she and her husband perform during the play gradually grow on her, and the remorse eventually erupts from her subconscious and crumbles her, causing her to kill herself. When she experiences this guilt, she appears frail and shattered as she sleepwalks and struggles to wash imaginary blood from her hands and says, “Out damned spot! Out I say!” Lady Macbeth's downfall demonstrates that even the fiercest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt. She then becomes exposed to the consequences of defying the ‘Divine rights of kings’, which is the conception that royalty is given authority to rule, and is derived from the power of God. Murdering King Duncan caused God to disrupt the world through stormy weather and soon rebelling elements, as Duncan was a King

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“Conscience betrays guilt” is a Latin Proverb that relates well with the story Macbeth by William Shakespeare. With its meaning being that your very conscience will never let you get over your guilt, it connects to the main character Macbeth, and his wife Lady Macbeth; who in their triumph for power never seem to get over their initial guilt, which results in them both going insane. Shakespeare’s intention in writing this play was to show how the natural order of things should be followed, and that if they were to be disturbed, it could very well destroy everything. In Macbeth, insanity is the result of a guilty conscience can be proved when Macbeth orders the killing of his friend Banquo and son Fleance, when Macbeth orders the killing of Macduff’s entire family, and when Lady Macbeth commits suicide.

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Lady Macbeth’s Emotional Journey In “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, the play follows Macbeth’s ambition to become king and the consequences of his actions. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is characterized by ambition, manipulation, and ruthlessness. She plays a crucial role in persuading Macbeth to commit regicide and later struggles with guilt and madness as the play continues. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s actions are controlled by guilt, fear, and ambition throughout the play. Lady Macbeth’s actions are controlled by guilt in the story, on her own actions throughout the play.

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Murder brings much trauma unto the person who commits the gruesome crime. However, Lady Macbeth believes that their consciences will just be filled with confused thoughts as they try to convince themselves that they did a positive action by getting rid of the awful king. “ …What cannot you and I perform upon / Th’ unguarded Duncan, what not put upon / His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt/ Of our great quell?” (1.7.69-72).

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The play “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is about how guilt weighs in on a person's conscious and reveals how if strong enough, guilt can make someone so paranoid that they cannot think straight. Macbeth’s guilt begins to rise after he kills King Duncan to gain power. Macbeth first shows his guilt when he says “ To Know my deed ‘twere best not know myself” (2.3 71). Macbeth is basically saying that in order for him to comprehend what he has done, he must lose his conscience. From this point in the story, Macbeth’s guilt avalanches into something huge that Macbeth didn’t expect.

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In the play, “Macbeth”, a certain theme comes into play: Guilt. This particular theme centers around the guilty conscience of Macbeth and his wife when they decided to kill the King of Scotland. Given the fact that Macbeth did indeed kill King Duncan himself, most people would pronounce him guilty. What they don’t realize is that Lady Macbeth came up with the plan to kill King Duncan, provoked her husband into committing murder by stripping him of his masculinity, and even showed indifference when the death of the king had already occurred. Because she conjured up the plan to kill King Duncan, provoked her husband into committing murder, and was even unfeeling after killing a beloved king, she is the one held responsible for the murder of the King of Scotland.

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In comparison to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth shows no guilt. This is shown when she says, “A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight,”, “A little water clears us of this deed,” and “These deeds must not be thought.” While Macbeth’s first reaction to Duncan’s death is to call it a ‘sorry sight’, Lady Macbeth immediately dismisses him, she does so again multiple times throughout the scene. Lady Macbeth, while her husband is stricken with guilt and horror, takes control over their relationship and scolds him for feeling remorse. She shows her authority over him in this scene and goes against the typical Jacobean ideal for women at the time.

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She is the architect of Duncan's death, and, without her, it may never have occurred, as Macbeth would not have gained the confidence and ambition to go forward with it. With this, we can see how she was far from the expected woman of Jacobean society, who is supposed to be petite, submissive, and overall weak, yet she is far from this, amplifying her femme fatale

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From Macbeth feeling “drowned in blood”, to Lady Macbeth not being able to wash her hands, shows how guilt will always come from making bad decisions. One wrong choice can ruin a person's life

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Lady Macbeth going to nag to her husband into taking action about killing the king. She taking the power that didn’t belong to her and that was a treason. In act two, the killing spree of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begun. “I laid their daggers ready; he could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done 't.”(2.2.10).

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Guilt has the potential to crumble even the most powerful of mortals. The Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth reveals the consequence of immoral action: guilt. William Shakespeare portrays the idea that the downfall of one may transpire as a result of this regret. Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are negatively affected as they are overwhelmed by the realization that they have violated their moral standards; this causes their guilt. The two attempt to conceal the remorse they experience, but despite this, their misdeeds take their toll.

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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

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In the drama “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” William Shakespeare reflects on guilt . More specifically, Shakespeare implies guilt and how repercussions of guilt can be detrimental towards an individual because it creates emotional instability and distorted judgement. Guilt is displayed many times throughout the play, but mostly through internal conflicts of Macbeth. For instance, Macbeth feels internal guilt when he murdered King Duncan. Macbeth says, “ I’ll go no more/

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Instead of going along with Macbeth’s new plans to murder more people, Lady Macbeth attempts to dissuade Macbeth, telling him that he “lack[s] the season of all nature, sleep,” trying to get Macbeth to go to bed as opposed to plotting and then carrying out his plans of murder (3.4.142). By trying to stop Macbeth from murdering more people, it is clear that despite wanting to be evil and feel nothing, her sense of guilt is too strong for her to

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Lady Macbeth has read the letter about Macbeth 's meeting with the witches and believes that her husband doesn 't contain the evilness to murder Duncan. She then takes things into her own hands, calling out to the spirits for strength.     In contrast to many characters of her time, Lady Macbeth was a strong and commanding woman. Starting in the beginning, Lady Macbeth says “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe topful of direst cruelty!”. It seems that she believes that the only way to become evil and heartless, is to strip herself of femininity.

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In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, guilt can punish people even if they are not caught, which is illustrated with the downfall of the Macbeths. Shortly after killing Banquo, Macbeth starts to hallucinate and says “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence”(3.4.128-129). This quote shows that Macbeth feels guilt while he is imagining Banquo’s ghost.

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