Examples Of John's Guilt In Macbeth

John, a man in prison for life, killed a pregnant mother because he was driving drunk and ran through a red-light, smashing into her car with his Ford F1-50. Now, John must live with that pain and sorrow every day, every hour, and every minute for the rest of his life. A second does not go by where he does not have the heavy guilt of murder hanging over his head. Wishing he could undo his actions, John slowly rots away in a prison cell. He sends countless letters to the lady’s husband and parents, but nothing can expel the pain from his heart. His guilt is indestructible; nothing can quench it. In the quotation above, Macbeth desperately asks the doctor to remove the terrible psychic guilt that is destroying Lady Macbeth. He asks him if he cannot help a diseased and troubled mind, pleading with the doctor to just take one memory from her mind and destroy it with some “sweet oblivious antidote” (89). It is only later, to his dismay, that he discovers there is no fix to her guilt, no antidote, no medication. The doctor explains to Macbeth that a terrible memory cannot be vanquished from a person’s mind; a person must live with what he or she has done.

He almost began wanting death as he became older and older. His guilt could not be cured. Death was the only end-all. No matter what he did, the terrible memory flashed through his mind over and over. Mankind will try to forget horrific memories, but those are the memories that linger with you forever. They cannot be destroyed. While a person can become at peace with him or herself, he or she can never expel the awful memory. However, most people are unable to come to peace with themselves, and the guilt gnaws at them until they can’t take it anymore and end their life or have all the life sucked out of them. This eternal guilt is impossible to overcome often and the guilt-ridden person must carry this guilt with them