Guilt and Conscience in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

This being the case, in the play Macbeth, Shakespeare puts forth the idea that by betraying others one is in turn betraying themselves. Shakespeare proves this by showing that at the conclusion of every murder Macbeth commits, he gradually declines on the ladder of respect and nobility. Macbeth starts off as a noble and respected leader. He is kind and a brave fighter. But after three witches give him a prophecy, he starts to betray other characters and becomes an evil malicious man.

He breaks down mentally losing power of himself, becoming very paranoid. At the end of the play, Macbeth tries to regain some dignity by dying with courage. Also as Macbeth had a clean conscience, he was very easily pulled to evil by his mentally overpowering wife. Macbeth was constantly driven by power to commit more harmful actions, as when he got more power, the greedier he became for it. Throughout the play the tragic hero is sympathised even though he committed wrong acts.

After Lady Macbeth heard of the equivocations and Macbeth's potential to become king she immediately began planning how he would kill King Duncan. She calls to the spirits saying, " Come, you spirits that tend my moral thoughts, unsex me here!"(I. V. Lines 42-45). She knew that Macbeth was kind hearted and didn't think that he would find the courage to kill the king so called out to the spirits to ask them to make her more man... ... middle of paper ... ...ers influence decisions that people know are morally wrong can negatively impact their mental state. Thought this play Macbeth knew that committing the murder was wrong but after his wife consistently challenged his manhood he decided to kill Duncan.

His ambition and self-image of bravery win over his virtues. Nevertheless he is remorseful after murdering Duncan, and he masks his fear of being found with rage against the supposed murderers and thus kills the drunk guards. Already being king Macbeth is troubled by remorse and cannot sleep easily. Also, Macbeth is fearful of Banquo because he knows what the witches prophesied and may suspect Macbeth. Another thing that bothers him is that he has the demeanor of a king and that the witches promised Banquo a lineage of kings while they only promised him to be king.

This sets the reader up to feel sorry for him when bad things happen to him, although Macbeth’s troubles are brought on himself. Two of the main points that contribute to Macbeth’s fall are the fact that he listens into the prophecies of the witches far too deeply, and that he is over-ambitious. Because he takes what the witches tell him so seriously, Macbeth’s life ends up being consumed with the maintenance of his kingship. Macbeth loses his wife, his popularity, and eventually his own life. Because of Macbeth’s over-ambitiousness, he finds himself killing his best friend, and fighting against all odds to maintain his goal of being king.

Banquo realizes that there must be a trick hidden in the witches prophecies somewhere but Macbeth refuses to accept that, and when Lady Macbeth finds out about the witches her strong desire for ambition and her cold nature leads Macbeth astray. Lady Macbeth's ambition far exceeds Macbeths and so she is able to get Macbeth to agree with her to kill King Duncan. Macbeth still has a conscience at this stage because he is very hesitant about killing the King but his weak nature over comes him. He has a conscience throughout the entire play as this is seen by the hallucinations of the dagger and the ghost of Banquo. His vivid imag... ... middle of paper ... ...as already thrown away his conscience, so much so, that Macbeth continues to commit even more evil acts.

Therefore, she is able to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Macbeth still has a conscience at this stage because he is very hesitant about killing the King, but his weak nature overcomes him. He actually has a conscience throughout the entire play, as evidenced by the hallucinations of the dagger and the ghost of Banquo. His vivid imagi... ... middle of paper ... ...ed. Over the course of the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth greatly change with respect to their characters and their personalities.

He hoped there would be another way, until he realized it had to be done in order for him to be successful, which was the start to a future filled with astonishing amounts of guilt for him. Secondly, another example of Macbeth showing guilt is when he imagines Banquo's ghost: “Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me” (III.iv.45). Macbeth imagines the ghost of Banquo, and tries to tell it that the murder is not his fault, which shows he is full of guilt over the fact that he murdered Banquo. This is when it becomes more evident that the guilt is tearing Macbeth apart, and he is starting to lose his sanity as he imagines ghosts and attempts to talk to them.

In Act I, scene iii, when Macbeth is thinking about the fulfillment of the two prophecies given by the witches before, "My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes my single state of man"(I, iii, 139- 140) In this soliloquy, Macbeth reflects his idea about the "two truths" told by the witches. He is  ambitious to become king, as he reacts nervously when the witches mention his fate. The very idea of murder "shakes his single state of man". However, at this point, he is loyal to the king, and he rejects the idea of murder, "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir. "(I, iii, 143-144) The predictions by the witches may have strengthened the criminal intentions that he had probably never yet dared to express clearly, even to himself.

In this play, Shakespeare communicates how Macbeth's destiny can be changed depending on how he deals with his predicted future, in other words, his fate versus his free will. Macbeth makes many foolish decisions throughout his life like believing evil and supernatural powers will help him, allowing the endless verbal assault by Lady Macbeth to control him, and allowing his own ignorance in his decisions to overtake him. These are the main contributing factors that lead to his eventual breakdown and death. There are several instances in the story which suggest that the Weird Sisters are to blame for Macbeth?s downfall. At the very beginning of the book, the witches meet Macbeth and right away fill his mind with desire for the throne by telling him he will be king.