Macbeth Guilty Conscience

A guilty conscience can cause one to have unexpected consequences. Unexpected consequences can remind one of their guilty conscience making their crime forever etched in their brain. Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare, tells the tale of ambition of Macbeth and his wife. Macbeth wants to become king so he murders anyone in his way, which later on causes massive consequences. The motif of blood, in Macbeth, represents a guilty conscience and shows that the unexpected consequences of guilt weighs on one shoulders ultimately making them suffer.
The hallucinations of blood shows the guilty conscience of Macbeth, the unexpected consequence, making Macbeth suffer. Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth hallucinates the dagger in which

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth immediately feels guilty. Out of fear he says, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?" (2.2.77-78). Neptune, the roman god of the ocean, has the ability to wash away his blood. So Macbeth wonders if he will ever clean the blood on his hands. The stained blood stays forever on his hands reminding him of his actions. This presents Macbeth's forever guilty conscience, an unexpected consequence of murdering someone.In a similar situation, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and confesses to her crimes in her sleep. She cries,“What will these hands ne’er be clean” ( 5.1.45). She asks in her sleep if her hands will ever be cleaned of the blood of those she helped killed. The blood stained her hand forever which shows her guilty conscience. This unexpected consequence of her actions and her unclean hands reminds her of her wrongdoing. The stains of blood reminds Lady Macbeth and Macbeth of their wrongdoing making them suffer the unexpected

After the murder of Banquo Macbeth begins to regret the murders he has committed. He explains, “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wait no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” ( 3.4.168 - 170). “I am in blood step so far,” means how Macbeth has killed so many innocent people he believes he should stop and return to his normal life to avoid the guilt. He wants to return and pretend like nothing has ever happened. However he cannot avoid the fact that he caused the murder of Duncan and of Banquo. He admits to his guilt and acknowledges it as an unexpected consequence. Another instance occurred when Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and confesses her sins, describing the haunting evidence of the murders figuratively on her hands. She said, “Here's the smell of the blood still. All/ the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,” (5.1.52-53). She can still smell the blood which reminds her of the murders she knew hold wrong. The “perfumes of Arabia” cover up stench but she explains how they could not cover up her guilty conscience and the fact that she helped murder an innocent person. She admits to her guilt and the forever lasting smell of blood, an unforeseen outcome and an unexpected consequence for Lady Macbeth. The smell of blood haunts her which drives her crazy and eventually leads to death. The fact that