Guilt And Ambition In Shakespeare's Macbeth

‘Opposites attract’ is possibly the best way to summarize the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The two characters are so un-similar it’s almost a wonder that they get along at all. Lady Macbeth is much more aggressive and cunning than her husband. Whereas Macbeth can best be described as cautious, and loyal. However, these contradictory characters do have share some traits. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have common characteristics of guilt and ambition which they orbit parallel around until both of their deaths.

In the opening of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a fierce and dedicated defender of Duncan’s realm and is even boasted of by a Captain in the army; “Except they [Macbeth

When it is finally time to commit the first murder, of King Duncan, Macbeth is shaken. This is when he delivers his famous lines; “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.(II. i. 33-35). At this point in the play, the reader can start to see Macbeth’s sanity slipping. He is imagining a dagger in order to cope with the apprehension he holds for committing murder. Macbeth’s slipping sanity continues after the murder of Banquo at the hands of Macbeth. At a feast, attended by all of the nobles, Macbeth begins speaking to Banquo’s ghost. “Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes ... (III. iv. 95-96). It is not until the complete role reversal at the end of the play, that Macbeth is ever

Lady Macbeth begins talking in her sleep, “Out, damned spot! out, I say! … What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”(V. i. 32, 40). Her unconscious confessions and ramblings of guilt show that her sanity is all but with her. After holding it together for much of the story, she ends up committing suicide in order to avoid the crushing penitence.

In summary, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both experience guilt for their actions at different points in the play. Macbeth is faced with guilt and trepidation first but moves on in order to maintain his crown. Lady Macbeth shows her gnawing guilt and slipping sanity much later and severely in the play. The fact that they face these emotions at opposite points of the play shows how much the two characters foil each