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Macbeth's Guilty Conscience Essay

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Humans will do anything to ease their guilty conscience. It's in our nature to ensure that we feel good about our choices, no matter the infraction that inspired guilt in the first place. This idea is apparent in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the lead character, Macbeth, battles with his morals and sense of self after committing atrocities that were supposedly due to being influenced by supernatural beings. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is faced with three witches and their premonitions of a future yet to come; taking their words as confirmation that his unspoken desires are meant to be fulfilled, he acts rashly, laying waste to Scotland and those who stood in his way in the pursuit of power. The question of what these witches actually are …show more content…

The other characters remain mostly ignorant of these specific events, save for certain supporting characters. The night that Macbeth goes through with his wicked plan of murdering Duncan, the king of Scotland, animals were acting strangely. Duncan’s horses, in particular, reportedly broke free of their confines and attacked one another with no obedience to be seen. (Act II, Sc.4, 12-22) This would foster the idea that maybe things aren’t as simple as they seem and that the witches are real people with what appear to be peculiarities but, in actuality, extend into supernatural territory. As the chaos continues, the witches are met with their leader, Hecate, the goddess of the black arts. While strange for such a character to appear, it confirms the existence of the supernatural in the world of Macbeth. Hecate expresses her displeasure with the sisters for meeting with Macbeth without her and knows how to best rectify their mistake; Macbeth will seek them out the following day. (Act III, Sc.5, 2-32) Together the witches and Hecate plan to lead Macbeth astray, bolstering his confidence in his next endeavours to ensure his downfall. To keep Macbeth’s faith in their prophetic abilities, when he seeks them out, the witches are chanting and dancing around a bubbling cauldron, brewing a spell. After Macbeth declares that he would prefer the universe to fall into chaos than be denied his answers, the prophecies are spoken by apparitions; a head wearing a battle helmet, a blood-covered child, and a child wearing a crown and carrying a tree. They tell him exactly what he wants to hear; “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” (Act IV,

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Additionally, the witches are a form of mystery as their power is unknown: “Tell me, thou unknown power-” (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 68) Additionally, more of this mystery and fear is shown when they show Macbeth the apparitions of the kings: “Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs.” (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 112) In this quote, Macbeth feels pain from looking upon the apparitions. Moreover, this mystery and power relates to the Greek fates as they seem to have unknown bounds to their power: “But even Zeus was afraid of those girls.” (PJ)

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In fact, Macbeth becomes fascinated by them, "would they had stayed." Banquo serves as his conscience, perhaps representing the period audience who would have also thought the witches to be evil and unnatural, and warns him of the dangers of trusting such supernatural messengers; a warning that goes unheeded. After hearing the prophecy, Macbeth already thinks about, "murder," and becomes preoccupied with thoughts of becoming king showing the powerful hold they have over him with only one meeting, scaring the audience who would have believed in Witches. Macbeth believes the Witches as there first prophecy came true and ignores the fact that they’re evil beings whereas Banquo recognizes them for what they are. He even informs his most beloved, Lady Macbeth, who also shares his ambition.

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Guilt is a feeling of remorse or unhappiness over an experience that has occurred. A person who is described and considered as “strong” can also be open to a feeling of guilt. “The Tragedy of Macbeth” shows how symbolism and characterization is illustrated by the characters personal conditions being described. Ultimately, Guilt has become the problem of their struggle. The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare reveals guilt leads to corruption.

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Guilt is a feeling of deserving blame for an offense of some nature, causing one to feel self-conscious and doubtful of their own worth. A lack of guilt can cause a person to be overly confident and lack good judgment. In Shakespeare's Macbeth the theme of the characters guilt is successfully expressed through the imagery used to describe the actions and traits of the characters. This allows us to see how their guilt affects the different characters and the way they act. In the play, three types of imagery are used to express the theme of guilt.

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The witches' supernatural abilities allow them to create hallucinations that only Macbeth can see, influencing his thoughts and actions such as corrupting his mind to the point where he kills Macduff’s family as a threat. One scene where we see the influence of the hallucinations created by the witches is in Act 2, Scene 1, just before Macbeth kills the king, he sees a dagger and says: "Is this a dagger that I see before me, the hilt to my hand?” The floating dagger that Macbeth further encourages his corrupted mind to commit the atrocity, pointing him in the direction of the king’s room. The prophecies have not only affected him, but also his wife. Lady Macbeth upon hearing about the prophecies, causes her to become corrupted.

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Macbeth sees these apparitions to be sweet omens. Well, he deceives himself when he says that. The witches plan to make these apparitions seem like sweet omens to Macbeth yet at the same time the truth. And it consequently comes true for Macbeth.

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For example, when the witches notify Macbeth that he will gain a new title, they are simply telling him of the fact and are not prompting him to act upon it (Rahman and Tajuddin 138). In spite of that, he instantly conjures up an image in his head of himself killing King Duncan in order to get the position of the King, and subtly questions if his thoughts are against his own morals (Mac I.iii.130-137). This thought is not the witches’ fault, but if they never told Macbeth of his imminent future, he would not think this way. Macbeth’s murderous thought of Duncan lets readers see that Macbeth has a lust for power, which ultimately leads to the tragedy (Kesur 5561). In addition, the witches’ apparitions also play a slight part in Macbeth’s decision making.

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Throughout the play, the witches have a strong influence on many characters. MacBeth listens to their prophecies and tries to pursue ultimate power because of them. The witches are an example of supernatural beings and change in natural order of events. The witches prophecies were seen as concrete and not able to be altered, so by MacBeth trying to usurp and affect his future, he reaps the poor consequences of his actions. The witches are stronger and more powerful than MacBeth because they have all-power and the ability to forever alter the course of someone’s life.

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Before the main character has any part in the play the witches start it off in ominous mutterings about wicked acts and the future. The fear among the audience is set before Macbeth even thinks about killing anybody. Macbeth is then told by the witches about things that are supposed to happen in his future, and assuming they are telling the truth he believes them. Not only does he believe them but he himself commits acts that make them come true. This is another representation of how people believed they could be affected by witches.

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The three Witches, or weird sisters, play an extremely important part in the life of Macbeth, and are responsible for, if not the entire tragedy, starting off the sequence of events that lead to the death of many characters. They are oracles; they can predict the future and read the fate of mortals such as Macbeth. However, as with many other oracle characters, they speak in rhyme and riddle, and Macbeth inevitably misinterprets their prophecy. They greet him with praises; “All hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter!” making him feel important, and reassuring him with the phrase; “Fear not, Macbeth.

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Listening to witches Macbeth It all started when Macbeth and Banquo ran into the three witches. They told Macbeth three things “quote about what the witches tell him aka his future”. At the time it seems like nonsense. The first witch told the truth but, anyone could know that. The other two told supposid futures.

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The witches played a colossal role in Macbeth’s downfall and ultimately, his death. Since the first part of the prophecy stated Macbeth as being the new Thane of Cawdor, he believed he could continue to become king as well. In knowing his prediction, Macbeth also realized that since the king was in good health, so he would have to kill the king himself. For the rest of his prophecy to come true he would have to kill the king for himself. “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!”

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