Although introduced as a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth’s seemingly unbreakable character shatters when she is consumed by the demon of guilt. The guilt of Lady Macbeth seems nonexistent when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but the heinous acts she and her husband commit throughout the play strain her slowly. Eventually, the guilt Lady Macbeth harbors emerges from her subconscious and crumbles her. The downfall of Lady Macbeth reveals that even the toughest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt. At the commencement of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the guilty conscience of Lady Macbeth is overshadowed by her relentless pursuit to become Queen of Scotland. The ambitious path Lady Macbeth …show more content…
(Act 1, Scene 7) Through the power of manipulation, Lady Macbeth powerfully challenges Macbeth to commit to the plan to murder King Duncan by exclaiming “screw your courage to the sticking-place. And we’ll not fail.” (Act I, Scene 7) It is through her words that Lady Macbeth has her husband, Macbeth, murder King Duncan and achieve her great desire to become Queen of Scotland. Unfortunately, the death of King Duncan begins Macbeth’s reign of tyranny, which also begins the emergence of Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience. As a result of serving as a catalyst that effectively unleashes Macbeth’s true side of evil, Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience begins to surface. Immediately upon becoming King of Scotland, Macbeth’s wicked and selfish ambitions to achieve absolute dominance over the throne begins his murderous reign of tyranny. As a result of serving a major role in influencing her husband to take the path that he does, Lady Macbeth expresses her guilty feelings by …show more content…
Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!” (Act 5, Scene 1) Though she continuously rubs her hands to get rid of the blood, Lady Macbeth can not washed away the guilt that stains her hands. As a result of her inability to escape the nightmare of immense guilt in sleeping or in wakefulness, Lady Macbeth crosses into the state of eternal sleep, death. In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates that a guilty conscience is a mind-probing enemy that can strike quietly and become a deadly, overpowering force that can subdue anyone with remorse. Through Lady Macbeth’s character transformation, the effects of a guilty conscience can thoroughly be seen. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is an ambitious character that can repress her guilt to perform evil to a high extent. However, as the play progresses, the gradual diminishing of Lady Macbeth’s stone-like ruthlessness becomes visible as she deals with the guilt that stains her hands. As Lady Macbeth attempts to cleanse herself of the guilt she harbors in her mind, it becomes evident that guilt is a demon. A demon that if not dealt
In Act 5 we can see Lady Macbeth plagued by sleepwalking fits. During these fits doctors observe her washing her hands from blood, yet somehow no amount of scrubbing can wash it off, implying that no matter how normal she acts, she cannot get rid of the guilt that engulfs her. These actions foreshadow what she says earlier in the play when after Macbeth has just killed Duncan. Macbeth was feeling an incredible amount of guilt and Lady Macbeth implies that all he needed to do was wash his hands and cleanse himself from his guilt, foreshadowing Lady Macbeth not being able to scrub off her guilt. These 2 actions can be interpreted as Lady Macbeth feeling assertive and dominant but soon after descending back into madness as her guilt catches up
Guilt is a major theme throughout the story of Macbeth and the play portrays Macbeth’s guilt in forms of hallucinations, paranoia, and more. Throughout the play, Shakespeare discusses two different points of view on guilt. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth go through immense guilt throughout the play in completely different ways. In Macbeth, the character Macbeth experiences his guilt in ways that were severe at the time and it is explained within three different scenes throughout the play.
The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.
Macbeth’s bad conscience, however, cannot be curbed. Although, they both seem to go through serious pain and true regret is also involved.
A Guilty Conscience: How Guilt Drives the Powerful to Insanity Guilt is the cause of the destruction of many, particularly in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue to murder for the sake of power, they embark on opposite journeys but their guilt ultimately drives them both to insanity. Macbeth goes from being driven mad with guilt, to his instability causing him to murder recklessly. His wife goes from expressing no compassion or guilt to her guilt overcoming her and driving her to madness.
Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.
Macbeth foresaw only gain for betraying his friends and king. However, the consequences betraying and murdering his friend banquo haunt him, “Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that which might appall the devil” (III.iv.71-72). Macbeth’s conscience haunts him for he knows murdering Banquo was wrong. To highlight the consequences of betrayal and greed Shakespeare haunts Macbeth with grotesque reminders of his crimes to tell the reader that one should not take actions one cannot live with.
Guilt plays a strong role in motivating Macbeth, and causes Lady Macbeth to be driven over the edge of her being insane leading 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
Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” (V.i.l 25, 33-34). The blood symbolizes the guilt that Lady Macbeth has after being involved in the murder of Duncan. The Macbeths believe that cleaning their hands with water would make the sin of the murder not be in connection with them.
Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.
Guilt has the potential to crumble even the most powerful of mortals. The Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth reveals the consequence of immoral action: guilt. William Shakespeare portrays the idea that the downfall of one may transpire as a result of this regret. Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are negatively affected as they are overwhelmed by the realization that they have violated their moral standards; this causes their guilt. The two attempt to conceal the remorse they experience, but despite this, their misdeeds take their toll.
From Macbeth feeling “drowned in blood”, to Lady Macbeth not being able to wash her hands, shows how guilt will always come from making bad decisions. One wrong choice can ruin a person's life
Macbeths guilty conscience makes him unable to play the ‘true’ role of a villain of the play. Macbeth begins to see ‘false creations’ before murdering Duncan; the image of a floating dagger taunts Macbeth’s senses. Macbeth is devoured in his anxiety he starts to hallucinate the crime before going through with it. Macbeth is unable to dispose thoughts of his guilt and doubt, which prevents him from being stuck at the point where it is too late to turn back, yet the fear of his nature prevents him from turning completely into a ruthless coldblooded
Lady Macbeth tries to mask her guilt by covering up for her husband, but eventually comes to grips with her own instability. In Macbeth, Shakespeare asserts that power drives the title character and his wife to insanity, particularly after their conspiracy to kill Duncan. For starters, prior to killing Duncan, Macbeth imagines the likely consequences of his future actions and whether or not they signal his destiny. At the beginning
In the drama “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” William Shakespeare reflects on guilt . More specifically, Shakespeare implies guilt and how repercussions of guilt can be detrimental towards an individual because it creates emotional instability and distorted judgement. Guilt is displayed many times throughout the play, but mostly through internal conflicts of Macbeth. For instance, Macbeth feels internal guilt when he murdered King Duncan. Macbeth says, “ I’ll go no more/