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Macbeth Guilt Essay

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Across the many eras and genres of literature, guilt has served as a powerful motivator and punishment for characters. William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Macbeth is a prime example. The play takes place during a period of great turmoil in the kingdom of Scotland, as Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are compelled by a strong sense of ambition and a prophecy of Macbeth’s kinghood to murder King Duncan and claim the throne. They find themselves entrenched in a cycle of bloodshed and murder, becoming psychologically scarred by remorse for their actions. Throughout the play, Shakespeare explores the theme of guilt to argue that no matter one’s success at achieving their ambitions, the psychological consequences of their actions will always …show more content…

He murders King Duncan to steal the throne, not anticipating the immense wave of guilt that will wash over him as a result of his crime. Beginning to panic in the moments following the murder, Macbeth wonders, “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” (Shakespeare 2.2.78-81). Though Macbeth’s longing to be King drove him to murder, the guilt he experiences from this action consumes him. He has achieved the goal he aspired to, gaining power that insulates him from any real accountability, but he is nonetheless unable to escape the wrongness of what he has done. His vision of the blood on his hands turning an entire ocean red reveals the mental torture that is plaguing him, illustrating the trap his mind has become and forcing him to face his actions through visions that drive him to near …show more content…

She sleepwalks, reliving Duncan’s murder in her nightmares, and murmurs to herself, “Out, damned spot, out, I say! / ...Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?...What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (5.1.37-45). Lady Macbeth, despite being seemingly unfazed by the crimes she helped her husband commit earlier in the play, now experiences the psychological backlash of her guilt. Unable to silence her thoughts even in the middle of the night, she sees visions of King Duncan’s blood on her hands, trying to scrub it off, but to no avail. Though Lady Macbeth achieves her ultimate goal of securing Macbeth’s kinghood, the gruesome visions that she experiences are clear manifestations of her regret for the actions she took to get there. These powerful mental repercussions torment her until her death at the end of the play, when it can even be inferred that they drive her to

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Despite these nagging feelings, Macbeth overrides his emotions, primarily because of his wife, and the fear he felt before haunts him after the crime, closely followed by rising guilt. Shaken and frantic, the killers gaze dreadfully at their blood-covered hands shortly after murdering King Duncan. In lines 43-44 of Act 2 scene 2, Lady Macbeth offers a solution to the sinful mess: “Go get some water, and wash this filthy

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Lady Macbeth's Guilt Sadness, sleeplessness, anger, worry and evasion –these states are often evidence in people dealing with a guilty conscience. Shakespere explores the concept of guilt in Macbeth. In this play, Lady Macbeth’s guilt over the denial of Macbeth’s victims creates emotion that leads to her death.

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Shakespeare employs blood to accentuate how guilt ultimately drives Lady Macbeth’s implied suicide. Between Macbeth receiving the initial prophecy and the death of Banquo, Lady Macbeth does not actively exhibit any remorseful qualities, such as guilt or regret. However, before the final battle, she subconsciously reveals her fears, acting and speaking in her sleep. Holding a taper, she repeats an “accustomed action” of “washing her hands”; she agonizes that her “hands [will] ne’er be clean” no matter what “perfumes of Arabia” she uses (Shakespeare 5.1.24-25, 5.1.37, 5.1.43). Contrary to the once ambitious and assertive character, Lady Macbeth is now plagued by anguish; she stresses that the blood of Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family will never fully wash out–she is unable to cleanse her hands.

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Lady Macbeth begins to demonstrate her insaneness as the scene progresses. Lady Macbeth talks to herself as she continues her sleepwalk while she recalls the murder scene and says "Out damned spot out" (5.1.33). Lady Macbeth in this scene shows how lost she is in her hallucinations when she tries cleaning the blood, believing that if the blood is clean, so is her guilt. This scene also occurs when she says, "Here's the smell of the blood still, all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,". This portrays how Lady Macbeth's belief of cleaning her hand will make her less guilty, except for the smell of the blood still in

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Due to the killings, her guilt began to change her as a person. With the appearance of blood, Lady Macbeth realizes what horror she has created. Blood haunts Lady Macbeth in the worst possible way. Lady Macbeth can not wash the blood from her hands, staining permanent guilt. “Out, damned spot!...

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As a result of her inability to escape the nightmare of immense guilt in sleeping or in wakefulness, Lady Macbeth crosses into the state of eternal sleep, death. In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates that a guilty conscience is a mind-probing enemy that can strike quietly and become a deadly, overpowering force that can subdue anyone with remorse. Through Lady Macbeth’s character transformation, the effects of a guilty conscience can thoroughly be seen. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is an ambitious character that can repress her guilt to perform evil to a high extent.

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After killing Duncan, he exclaims that he wishes for “all” the water in the “ocean” to “wash” “blood clean from [his] hand” (2.2.60-62). Shortly after, Lady Macbeth replies by saying that a small amount of water can wash away the blood that he sees. However, Lady Macbeth’s opinion changes after Duncan kills Lord of Fife’s innocent family, she starts going psychologically insane. In her sleep, Lady Macbeth constantly washed her hands, trying to get “out” the “spot” of invisible blood on her hand after being reminded of her guilt. Now, she sees the blood just like her husband did earlier and becomes swallowed by guilt from encouraging her husband to partake in these crimes.

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She becomes self aware of the risks in her sleep, and in an attempt to save both herself and her beloved husband, she takes her own life in ways unknown. This intense episode of guilt proves that even she, the woman that started the events, knew deep down that her actions were evil and unforgivable. She could not even live with herself knowing that the blood on Macbeth’s hands were also on hers. The message of guilt is shown strongly in this part of the play. Guilt and regret can drive a person to madness and even be their own

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She makes it seem like it is simple to get rid of the thought that he just murdered the King by just washing the blood. While Macbeth inside is suffering from his guilt Lady Macbeth makes seem so effortless and acts like nothing happened. The thought questioning herself of what action she forced her husband to do or get involved in never crosses her mind. She gives him false hope on stating that everything will be fine if he just goes and washes all the blood and act absent-mindedly. Shakespeare is showing that “ cannot commit such crime without undergoing terrible inner torment and triggering self-defeating behavior”( Paris) shows that it is the less external consequences of his crime than the internal deterioration.

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