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.
Her lack of addressing this guilt is also what would eventually lead to her suicide. Perhaps the most notable way that Shakespeare depicts the harmful effects of guilt in Macbeth is through Macbeth’s increasing paranoia and subsequent demise throughout the play. Due to Macbeth’s means of achieving power, he knows his rule is fragile and fears what he did to others may soon happen to him. Additionally, the guilt he feels for his many murders is the reason for his paranoia. Eventually, this guilt he experiences becomes so bad that he grows numb to almost everything.
The purpose of imagery and symbolism is to help allow readers to visualize and better understanding of the text. Many mistaken the two Imagery and Symbolism as a picture or representation (symbol/image). The two can be viewed as the same, but they aren't quite the same. Imagery is a character's five senses, which helps brings out their emotions/feelings, thoughts, and tone of the story. The use of symbolism is to represent ideas and concepts, usually a setting that is unknown.
The significance of words or motifs in writing are not always immediately apparent. In Shakespeare’s works, he uses a number of motifs, and symbols, that one must analyze to understand their true significance. Macbeth tells the story of a Scottish thane that allows supernatural prophecies of becoming king control his actions, even if that means going through with evil endeavors, like murder. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare utilizes the motif of “hand” to portray the connotation of conscience and actions, while also illuminating Macbeth’s shift in character in relation to his guilt.
In the tragedy, “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, guilt is contributed throughout the play, sacrificing a feeling that haunts the conscience. The feeling of guilt can come from committing a crime, a faulty act, or even violation over someone. The criminal may have remorse in their sinful hands creating an awful grudge with their past. It can lead them to their horrific death of repeatedly seeing their hands, as a reminder of what they have done. ”Hands”, signify the important components of self and violence that rounds out an emphasis placed on choice throughout the play.
The infamous scene where she attempts to wash away the metaphorical blood stains from her hands symbolizes her futile struggle to rid herself of guilt. She confesses, "My hands are of your color; but I shame / To wear a heart so white" (Act 2, Scene 2)These words are uttered in the aftermath of Duncan's murder, as Lady Macbeth and Macbeth grapple with the consequences of their actions. The phrase "My hands are of your color" metaphorically refers to Lady Macbeth's hands being stained with blood, symbolizing her complicity in Duncan's murder. By stating that her hands are "of your color," she acknowledges her shared responsibility with Macbeth for the heinous act they have committed.
No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red” (2.2. 60-63). Macbeth its prey of his guilt, he expresses his concern by taking notice of the blood on his hands that are proof of his crime and of his extreme guilt towards what he has done. At first, while Macbeth feels terribly guilty, his wife seems to have a clear conscience, despite her criminal acts and thoughts.
Unlike her husband, Lady Macbeth doesn’t see the bloody hands as a bad thing. She tells Macbeth that he’s thinking foolish thoughts and that he should
As a result of the choice Lady Macbeth made earlier in the play she is suffering from sleepwalking. While the Doctor is observing her she begins shouting and washing her hands “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”(5.1.45). This connects to the usage in the second act when Macbeth says that all the water in the great ocean could not wash him clean. Much later in the fifth act, after Macduff enters with Macbeth's head Malcolm says “(Who, as ’tis thought, by self and violent hands, Took off her life)”(5.8.84-83). The destruction and violence that is associated with hand has spread.
I agree with her and say Shakespeare uses his hands to symbolize how his life wasn’t just one track. Macbeth didn’t have to commit all the acts he did and could have used the same tools he used for evil to redeem himself and make things go back to the natural order. She addresses his unableness to exhort control over his hands as deformed and “a sign of the willful smallness and sterility of his existence.” As Macbeth is unable to fix his wrongdoings, his guilt elevates to another level. After his killing of Banquo, he begins to hallucinate his gory ghost and spirals into even greater darkness.
Shakespeare’s understanding of the human psyche, before the word psyche was even imagined, is obvious in the character of Lady Macbeth as she suffers from classic symptoms of PTSD including her feelings of strong guilt, her delusions, and her depression. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from her husband that states the opportunity for him to be king, she immediately jumps on board to kill the current king. After the cold-blooded
Stages of this mental illness touched on by the playwright are the overpowering initial impact, difficulties sleeping, and the suicidal tendencies. In the moments subsequent to the treasonous murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth feels an irrepressible amount of guilt. This occurrence is the root of her depression as she experiences the weight of her crime and needs to be “look[ed] to” (2.3.115) and “exit...helped” (2.3.Stage Directions). Subsequently, the shameful state of mind Lady Macbeth suffers provokes complications with her sleep. The queen’s “heart is sorely charged” (5.1.46) which “keep[s] her from her rest” (5.3.40).
In Act 2, scene 2, 18-19, it states, “(looking at his bloody hands) This is a sorry sight. That’s a stupid thing to say...” says Lady Macbeth. We can infer that Macbeth feels remorse and sorrow after seeing the sight of his hands covered with the blood of King Duncan, whom he has just murdered. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth finds it foolish to get all emotional about such a manly deed of courage.
Regardless of where one lives, nature surrounds them. It is quiet in the winter, blossoms in the spring, flourishes in the summer, and then finally it lays to rest in autumn. Often in literature, writers utilize natural imagery because it is something that can be easily understood by everybody regardless of race, gender, religion, creed, and ethnicity. This imagery provides a deeper understanding of the book, play, story, or poem for the reader. The prominent playwright William Shakespeare uses natural imagery throughout his play Macbeth to foreshadow upcoming events in the plot (or provide a deeper understanding of the play/its characters).
She is found sleep walking, claiming she cannot wash the imaginary blood clean of her hands, saying, “Out damned spot” (5.1.32). The characters’ hallucinations of blood illustrate how gravely the guilt is affecting their minds. In conclusion, the image of blood in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth is important in developing the plot. The image of blood is first used to represent bravery when the valiant captain dies, the meaning then changes to guilt after Macbeth murders the king, and finally the image of blood reflects changes in the characters’ minds as guilt consumes their thoughts.
