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Macbeth Guilt Essay

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In the play Macbeth, Three Witches tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people out of paranoia. Civil war erupts to overthrow Macbeth, resulting in more deaths. Eventually, Macbeth understands that he will no longer be King of Scotland. Looking deeper into the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is influenced by guilt, confidence, and demand. Guilt can make people say and do things that may not be good or healthy for the individual. For instance, Lady Macbeth had been experiencing night terrors and she wasn't getting good sleep. She was having these terrors because she felt so guilty for killing someone, it was affecting her overall health. …show more content…

This shows that she had some remorse and guilt from killing this man. Being overrun by guilt can severely impact you on a day-to-day basis, as displayed by Lady Macbeth. Confidence may be key, but to Lady Macbeth, confidence is damaging. To substantiate this, her husband, Macbeth, revealed to her that he was prophesied to be king of Scotland. This revelation pushed her over the edge of sanity. She was under the impression that her husband was weak and pitiful, and would not be able to carry out the plan to kill Duncan. She nearly follows through with this assassination attempt. To add, Lady Macbeth tells her husband straight up that he is not acting like a man, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would. Be so much more the man” (Shakespeare 1.7.48-50). Lady Macbeth is brutally talking down her husband and calling him weak. This shows how confident she is in herself and how she is just able to talk down on her husband like he's no one. In all, Lady Macbeth is using her confidence to hurt herself and those around her. You might demand something to get done, but how demanding are you willing to

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