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Conscience In Macbeth And Hamlet By William Shakespeare

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People’s conscience’s guide their actions, behaviors, and decisions on a daily basis, but is a person’s conscience powerful enough to determine whether they will live or die? Shakespeare would argue that it is. According to his writing, he would even go as far as implying that a person’s conscience is the reason that one might choose to kill himself. Two of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet and Macbeth, are prime examples of how a character’s guilty conscience combined with a character’s perceived lack of hope can lead them down a path of ultimate destruction and damnation over time. In both Hamlet and Macbeth, Shakespeare unveils his theme of how a person’s conscience guides them by describing how guilt and self doubt cause protagonist …show more content…

And, although Hamlet is able to realize his own fall, his honor and loyalty to his father prevent him from attempting to escape his insanity (Terry 1). All of Hamlet’s hope becomes lost as he realizes that achieving a comfortable future is inexorable without involving grim revenge. “It is this attempt both to please the state and God and to remain honorable that leads to Hamlet's crisis of conscience and, ultimately, to his tragic death”(Terry 1). On the other hand, Claudius’ realization that his guilty conscience has overtaken his ability to function comes later in Act III Scene III, in his soliloquy. A similarity that Macbeth and Hamlet share is the involvement of character soliloquies. Macbeth and Claudius both relate their struggles and mental disabilities to their failing consciences during their monologues. Each character’s soliloquy is derived from guilt, and each express the character’s moral dilemma and concerns regarding judgment, angels and ultimately heaven or damnation (Cauchi 336). Macbeth battles with his emotions in his soliloquy

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Greed and jealousy live inside everyone, but one must refrain from these thoughts to prevent self destruction. In William Shakespeare's Elizabethan era Tragedy Macbeth, Shakespeare uses betrayal as a vehicle for obtaining power for selfish means, and illustrates the grave costs of betrayal to the individual. Greed often fuels an uncontrolled lust for power. Shakespeare reveals the extent of Macbeth’s greed when Macbeth's first thought regarding the witches prophecy stir thoughts of murder: “ My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(I.iii.152). Most individuals do not think one should murder someone to obtain what you desire.

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“Conscience betrays guilt” is a Latin Proverb that relates well with the story Macbeth by William Shakespeare. With its meaning being that your very conscience will never let you get over your guilt, it connects to the main character Macbeth, and his wife Lady Macbeth; who in their triumph for power never seem to get over their initial guilt, which results in them both going insane. Shakespeare’s intention in writing this play was to show how the natural order of things should be followed, and that if they were to be disturbed, it could very well destroy everything. In Macbeth, insanity is the result of a guilty conscience can be proved when Macbeth orders the killing of his friend Banquo and son Fleance, when Macbeth orders the killing of Macduff’s entire family, and when Lady Macbeth commits suicide.

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character accumulates guilt throughout the Acts by partaking in a revenge plot that is kick-started by an apparition of his murdered father. In Spring Awakening (I decided to focus on the musical adaptation by Sheik and Sater), Melchior is talked out of committing suicide by apparitions of his friends whose deaths can be somewhat attributed to his actions. Such examples highlight the ideology of the Theatre of Guilt where the protagonist places guilt on everyone else and whose arc is complete when they accept this guilt as their own (Brustein 383). Psychologist Martin Buber states that “man is the being who is capable of becoming guilty and is capable of illuminating his guilt” (209). Theatre is a way of taking this realisation a step further.

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A decision is the thought process of choosing between two or more outcomes that may or may not have a great impact. When thoroughly pondered, living life is fundamentally based on making the best decisions. Whether or not they are great or small decision making is critical. Often times, it is the smallest decisions one can make that impact the even bigger decisions later to come. Starting from the time people wake up in the morning, the will be surrounded by the most basic decisions until they go to sleep that night.

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Sean Smith Mrs. Anthony Senior English 8 March 2018 The Danger of Ambition In Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, the author proposes a perpetual loop of struggle through his use of fate and imagery of the character’s deaths in order to express the consequences for one’s actions if they are foolish enough to make these decisions. “The Tragedy of Macbeth” is a uniquely portrayed concept of fate, internal struggle, and paradox; the story depicts a human with intentions to receive power.

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Throughout life, most people have the chance to make their own decisions. With these decisions, there will either be good or bad outcomes. In the case of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, these decisions lead to a very grave consequence; a tragedy. The main character in the play, aptly named Macbeth, makes some choices that do not match with the morals of mankind.

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From Macbeth feeling “drowned in blood”, to Lady Macbeth not being able to wash her hands, shows how guilt will always come from making bad decisions. One wrong choice can ruin a person's life

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A Guilty Conscience: How Guilt Drives the Powerful to Insanity Guilt is the cause of the destruction of many, particularly in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue to murder for the sake of power, they embark on opposite journeys but their guilt ultimately drives them both to insanity. Macbeth goes from being driven mad with guilt, to his instability causing him to murder recklessly. His wife goes from expressing no compassion or guilt to her guilt overcoming her and driving her to madness.

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Guilt has the potential to crumble even the most powerful of mortals. The Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth reveals the consequence of immoral action: guilt. William Shakespeare portrays the idea that the downfall of one may transpire as a result of this regret. Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are negatively affected as they are overwhelmed by the realization that they have violated their moral standards; this causes their guilt. The two attempt to conceal the remorse they experience, but despite this, their misdeeds take their toll.

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This is further emphasized by the contrast with Macbeth 's response to the guilt he was faced

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Macbeth’s bad conscience, however, cannot be curbed. Although, they both seem to go through serious pain and true regret is also involved.

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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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