How Does Lady Macbeth Get Away Her Conscience

Macbeth appears to be a typical crime story: the protagonist Macbeth plans and commits murder of noble people with Lady Macbeth and other followers to satisfy their own desires, and they are eventually punished for their unethical actions. However, unlike many other “criminals” who are punished by a just third party, both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are not only punished but also killed by their own consciences. As much as they wish to abandon their conscience in pursuit of their desires, their conscience never disappears in their mind and it, in fact, affects every move they makes. Their guilt that comes from their consciences is so heavy that it erodes them gradually and eventually leads to their self-destruction. Lady Macbeth shows a strong

She thinks the evil spirit has taken away her conscience, yet her conscience never leaves her. Even during the murder, she reveals that she cannot kill Duncan herself because Duncan resembles her father. Knowing less of her consciences is left, she is still afraid that her consciences would still prevent her from committing the murder because Duncan reminds her of her father. Lady Macbeth predicts that her conscience may prevent her from carrying out evil plans, but she does not anticipate the consequence that her conscience brings because of these unethical actions that she decides to

She shows a clear process of deterioration after she murders Duncan with Macbeth for the crown. As the gentlewoman and the doctor observe, Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking. In her sleep, she constantly repeats her actions in the past when she has not committed the murder. She keeps washing her hand in hopes of washing off her sin, but no matter how hard she tries, “yet here’s a spot”(5.1.33). As she screams in her dream, “here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!”(5.1.53-55) She can never wash the smell of blood off her hands in her mind; likewise, she can never cover the murder from herself. Lady Macbeth realizes that she may hide the truth from others, but she can never escape from the condemnation from her own conscience. She eventually commits suicide because she cannot bear the guilt from her consciences anymore. It is like a heavy and immobile rock placed on her chest that makes her unable to breathe. Under this burden, “Lady Macbeth finally succumbs to its torments and can escape from them only in madness and