Guilt Quotes In Macbeth

Blood never goes away. It is thicker than water and its pungent iron stench fills the air. Similarly, guilt never leaves and makes people go insane The heavy-weighing feeling of guilt often hangs over the people behind the immoral act. For example, William Shakespeare shows guilt through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth with the constant mention of blood in his play Macbeth. A constant reminder of the horrendous deed they both partook in. They have dirtied their hands and now are forever stained. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to show the never-ending guilt weighed upon a person after a terrible deed.
Haunted by guilt, Macbeth changes from a good, loyal soldier, to an evil heartless tyrant. Initially, Macbeth is shown as a hero with

This all changes when he is visited by the Weird Sisters who prophesize his rise to the throne. This is when Macbeth’s greed starts to take control. Thoughts of killing King Duncan creep into his head. This retched thought is encouraged by Lady Macbeth which further engulfs Macbeth in greed. Just as soon as the murder was complete, Macbeth exclaims, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/ The multitudinous seas incarnadine,/ Making the green one red” (2.2.78-81 Shakespeare). Macbeth believes nothing can clean the blood on his hands. His hands are so thickly coated that he believes the blood would even turn the vast oceans red and no amount of water will ever purify him. It illustrates Macbeth’s anguish as he realizes the severity of his actions. Macbeth knew nothing good would come from murdering Duncan as his greed fully takes control of him. Shakespeare uses the intense imagery of Macbeth’s bloodied hands to show the lasting guilt of a person. Likewise, after Duncan’s death, Macbeth secures the title of King but is again filled with guilt and remorse. Shakespeare further uses blood to represent guilt after Macbeth has received the title of King of Scotland when Macbeth attends a banquet with other

After killing King Duncan, Macbeth spirals and collapses to Lady Macbeth on how guilty he feels. As this happens Lady Macbeth reassures him by saying “My hands are of your color: but I shame/ To wear a heart so white.”(2.2.) Lady Macbeth acknowledges she has a part to play in the murder and her hands are just as dirty as Macbeths’ hands. The difference here is Macbeth feels instant regret and guilt, while Lady Macbeth is fully aware she has played an important role in the Murder but does not feel remorse in her heart like Macbeth. Lady Macbeth instead shames Macbeth for feeling such a way. However, her lack of remorse changes at the end of the play when she sleepwalks and attempts to wash her hands of the guilt and cries “Out Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!”(5.1.53-55.) Lady Macbeth changes from a heartless woman with no remorse to a guilt-ridden accomplice. She claims beforehand that her hands are covered with the blood of Duncan showing her part in the crime, but she feels no guilt. Now, the guilt has caught up and fully taken control of her. The guilt of the murder leaves her sleepwalking and shows just how much control it has over her. Shakespeare again uses the change in a characters mindset to show the intense impact of