To What Extent Does Macbeth Follow One's Conscious '

Macbeth’s Lesson to Follow One’s Conscious To many, the thought of killing another seems almost inconceivable because of their innate moral values. Consciences keep people from performing actions which they would regret later. If people violate their scruples, they must manage the internal consequences of their action. Like a ghost, people’s consciences will haunt them and can cause their lives to fall into disrepair. In Macbeth, an Elizabethan tragedy, William Shakespeare advises people to follow their moral compass in order to live a future free from guilt. For people to justify their immoral actions to themselves, they need to have a reason which outweighs the consequences, elsewise their guilt will plague them forever. Macbeth

Shakespeare points out how “infirm of purpose” Macbeth acts after realizing the repercussions of his betrayal, when Macbeth says, “I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on ‘t again I dare not” (II.ii. 66-67). Macbeth’s reaction shows how distress, guilt, and anxiety go hand in hand with immoral actions. In another situation Macbeth may have had a legitimate cause for his regicide, such as, if Duncan plans to kill hundreds of innocent people, or engage in a war the country does not want. However, Shakespeare made Macbeth’s only motivation greed and a lust for power. Therefore, because Macbeth cannot legitimatize his reasons to himself, he finds himself later haunted by his human consciousness. Similarly, Lady Macbeth realizes that her actions will not accord with her moral values and has to “stop up th’ access and passage to remorse” and “unsex” herself because killing her king goes against her nature (I.v. 48-51).

Shakespeare foretold of Macbeth’s sleeping troubles when he writes, “‘Macbeth shall sleep no more’” (II.ii. 57). In the play Shakespeare attempts to convey the dramatic consequences caused by immoral actions, these consequences can lead to physical issues. Emotional trauma can lead to rash decisions and a loss of good mental and physical health and in Macbeth’s case, caused him to lose sleep and to start hallucinating. As a result of the sleep loss, Macbeth finds himself in a constant state of paranoia and his hallucinations alienate him from the rest of the upper class at one point. Shakespeare emphasizes, in Macbeth, how one wrong decision can dictate the rest of one’s life. Shakespeare goes on to further highlight with Lady Macbeth how much of a toll guilt can take on a person: “The Queen, my lord, is dead” (V.v. 19). Some cannot handle the weight of their culpability and the guilt can take their life completely. Shakespeare includes the suicide of Lady Macbeth to show just how far someone could take their self-reproach. Though extreme, the suicide clearly represents Shakespeare’s warning to obey one’s