Examples Of Guilt In Macbeth

“Guilt is the source of sorrows. The avenging fiend that follows us behind with whips and stings”(Nicholas Rowe). It is the feeling of having done wrong to anyone or anything. Remorse is positive in many ways, but when a single person carries too much guilt it can overpower them. Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, is filled with examples of guilt through multiple characters, specifically, Macbeth. A Scottish general named Macbeth received a prophecy from three witches that one day stating that he will become king. Consumed by impatience, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne. He was immediately flooded with guilt. Forced to perpetrate more and more murders in order to protect himself from people with suspicions and secure his position

When guilt is strong enough, it can lead one to insanity, this happened to Macbeth after killing one of his best friends, Banquo. The murderer comes in and tells Macbeth that Banquo is dead, Macbeth then goes back to his dinner party and hallucinates the ghost of Banquo, therefore, he says, “If I stand here, I saw him”(III.4.76). Macbeth is having hallucinations of Banquo because he feels the guilt for his death. This furthers how Macbeth’s feeling of guilt destabilizes him psychologically. Banquo’s ghost tortured and haunted Macbeth because of the extent of the remorse he felt for Banquo’s death. Guilt has the ability to manipulate a person psychologically. Once Banquo’s ghost was gone, Macbeth’s guilt rushes in and he makes a toast to Banquo from the remorse and regret he feels, “I drink to th’ general joy o’ th’ whole table, and to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss. Would he were here!”(III.4.90-92). The second after Macbeth heard Banquo was dead, he knew it was his fault and he regretted it. Guilt is a weird thing, one does not feel it until one knows the wrong has been committed. Guilt completely tortures and ruins a person's mind when one lets the guilt dominate