The Guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
Guilt is a very strong and uncomfortable feeling that often results from one’s own actions. This strong emotion is one of the theme ideas in William Shakespeare, “Macbeth”. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel guilt, but they react in different ways. Guilt hardens Macbeth, but cause Lady Macbeth to commit suicide. As Macbeth shrives to success guilt overcome’s Macbeth where he can no longer think straight. Initially Macbeth planned was to kill Duncan but it wasn’t enough he also had to kill Banquo and Macduff’s family. On the other hand Lady Macbeth had to call upon the weird sister to unsexed her so she had no true feeling towards anything as if she was a man. However, the true guilt of the murder can fall on either Lady Macbeth or Macbeth.
Perhaps one of the strongest obvious evidence that show guilt, is how it affects lady Macbeth, how she couldn’t handle it any longer, and that was the reason of her death. Lady Macbeth realizes that nothing could ever get rid of the smell of the blood and the guilt caused by all the murders committed by Macbeth. “Here’s is the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!’’, (V, I, 53-55) It’s also shown here that she feels responsible for every person her Husband killed. The guilt of Duncan's murder can be placed firmly on the hand on Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth wants the murder of Duncan for her own gains. Given the present situation, she is hungry for power. The weird sisters predicted that Macbeth would be king. This means that the obvious result would be Lady Macbeth will be queen. Instead of waiting for Duncan to die naturally or to be killed by someone else, she forces the task onto Macbeth.
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...d her children be murdered. As Macduff reaches England he hears the news and grief and vow revenge upon Macbeth.
Although the tragic hero Macbeth physically committed the crime, it was Lady Macbeth that pushed him to his limits of rational thought and essentially made fun of him to lower his esteem. With Macbeth's defenses down, it was an easy task for Lady Macbeth to influence Duncan's murder and make up an excuse as to why she could not do it herself. The Quotes and explanations used throughout this essay, built up proof that guilt plays a large role in motivating Macbeth. Guilty feelings were brought out through the character’s actions and responses, until the very fatal end were they wishes none of all this ever happened.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
In the Shakespearian tragedy Macbeth, though Macbeth manages to murder the Scottish king Duncan to actualize the prophecy of the three witches, yet the guilt emanating from such nefarious acts and intentions continues to foreshadow Macbeth’s life throughout the plot. The very moment Macbeth approaches lady Macbeth with hands dipped in the blood of Duncan, his deeps seated guilt oozes forth as he says, “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more;/Macbeth does murder sleep (2.2.45-46)”. Thereby, from this moment onwards, Macbeth is shown to be strongly stung by an unrelenting and continually nagging sense of guilt that makes him engage in strange and suspicion generating acts and manners. Yet, Macbeth time and again interprets his guilt as a sign of cowardice and moves on to spill more blood to consolidate his hold over an ill gotten throne. The torment and anguish inherent in these lines that are imbued with the seeds of guilt eventually metamorphose into a full blown sense of guilt and shame that continues to torment his soul.
The Importance of Guilt in Macbeth Through the story, guilt motivates Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to a great extent. Macbeth was a kind, fine nobleman of the king Duncan. But one day his benevolence and patronage to the king changed. He had met the three witches who had revealed the three prophecies. The first prophecy was that Macbeth would become the thane of Cawdor.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
In Macbeth, there are a lot of guilt and regrets felt by Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth. For example, Macbeth regrets killing King Duncan because now he is worried that if the people find out it was him, he would be executed. Also Macbeth starts to feel guilty about the people who he killed, but he likes to do it because he wants to be king. Lady Macbeth is starting to become worried about the people trying to come after for what she is encouraging Macbeth to do. Macbeth, a man driven by ambition, could not escape from guilt which haunted him.
Macbeth also demonstrates guilty feelings when he considers murdering Duncan. These guilty feelings came about when he analyzed the relationship between himself and Duncan. Not only was he Duncan's subject and soldier, he was Duncan's host. He realized that ...
Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have both shown guilt, but at different stages in the play. Isolating guilty feelings only begins to isolate them from the world around them. Macbeth is the first to feel guilt at the begging of the play, but towards the end he has nothing but isolation. Lady Macbeth has both isolation and guilt. In act III , scene two , lines 6 to 9, Lady Macbeth says, " Noughts had all's spent, where our desire is got without content. Tis safer to be that which we destroy". She is describing how the murder of Duncan has made them lose everything but has made them gain nothing. Her guilt has gotten the best of her by act IV, when all she has on her mind is guilt. When Lady Macbeth says in act V. scene two, line 43 to 44, "Heres the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand". She knows the murder is irrevocable, and nothing can be done to erase the deed from her mind.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth becomes the more controlling one, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt eventually becomes too much for her to handle which leads to her death. Lady Macbeth is in fact the one that performs the preparations for the murder of King Duncan, but still shows some signs of humanity by not committing the murder herself because he resembles "My father as he slept". After the murder has been committed, she also shows signs of being a strong person because she calms Macbeth down in order to keep him from going insane.
Guilt plays a strong role in motivating Macbeth, and causes Lady Macbeth to be driven over the edge of sanity - to her death. Throughout the story, there are many different types of guilty feelings that play a role in Macbeth’s fatal decisions and bring Lady Macbeth to commit suicide. Although there are many instances that show the power guilt has played on the main characters, there are three examples that show this the best. One is, just after the murder of the great King, Duncan. Guilt overcomes Macbeth where he can no longer think straight. A second example is soon after that, where all the guilt Macbeth feels at first, changes into hate after he decides that Banquo must be killed as well. The last example is just about at the end of the play, when we see Lady Macbeth sleepwalking, and then later committing suicide; this all because of the burden of her guilt. All of these examples build the proof that in this play, guilt plays a very large role in the characters’ lives.
Firstly, we shall consider Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as they are the two who planned and performed the murder. Although after the witches told Macbeth that he was to be king and he was burning in desire to be so he, on first instance, decided that if fate had determined that he was to be the sovereign of Scotland he shouldn’t try to be reach the throne by his own actions, that it would come eventually: “If Chance will have me king, why, Chance / may crown me, / Without my stir”. However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility on Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status of woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not...
Towards the beginning of the play, Macbeth was told by three witches of his future as the Thane of Cawdor and as King of Scotland. Together, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth devised an evil plan to brutally murder King Duncan. In doing this, Macbeth was one step closer to his prophecy of being King coming true. Macbeth expressed guilt and second thoughts before he even did the deed, but after the murder is done is when his guilt really started to show. Immediately after, Macbeth heard voices saying “Macbeth shall sleep no more” (II.ii.22-43). The guilt would keep him awake forever and would continually eat away at him. He was so disgusted with himself that he couldn’t even put the daggers back at the scene of the crime (II.ii.51-53). Lady Macbeth, guilt free at the time, stepped in and did this for him. Guilt often causes people to lie, which is why Macbeth quickly reacted and killed the guards. Lady Macbeth attempted to cover for him and fainted as a distraction (II.iii.106). He couldn’t keep his thoughts straight and it ended ...
After the murder Lady Macbeth says “If he does bleed, ill guild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt” ironically after Duncan’s murder she is haunted by his blood then she goes crazy and eventually kills herself. All of these contribute to the strong theme of guilt and conscience in Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the theme of guilt and conscience is one of the most prominent in the play. It gives life to the play and gives depth to the characters, it makes Macbeth a much more realistic character because we are shown that he is not perfect and still responds to temptation.
By embracing evil, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have committed unnatural actions that disturb them. Their guilt does not leave them in peace, and slowly degrades their health. Macbeth's guilt causes him to act strangely in front of his guests, and it disturbs him deeply. Macbeth's guilt is deeply mutilated, and it only affects him when he hallucinates "Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves / Shall never tremble" (III.iv.124-125), and as soon as his visions disappear he feels better "Why so, being gone, / I am a man again.- Pray you sit still" (iii.iV.130-131), not something normal considering the actions he has committed. His guilt paralyzes him when he does feel it, but most of the time he is guiltless, and that encourages him to commit more murder. Although his guilt does not ultimately destroy him, it is a factor that brings his own men against him, since through his guilt he reveals the actions he has committed.
In the end the readers can observe that Macbeth even being affected by guilt so many times in so many ways is still stronger than Lady Macbeth. He could survive the play without committing suicide because a feeling was controlling him. He had control over guilt, not completely, but largely. With the help of Lady Macbeth he continued with what he was predetermined to do, while Lady Macbeth could receive no help to stop her from going mad and committing suicide. You can control guilt, or guilt will drive you into madness.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.