Guilt Theme In Macbeth Essay

He said it is not his place to do so and that heaven will judge her when it comes time. The ghost also tells him that he fell asleep in the garden and Claudius poured poison in his ear to kill him. Hamlets fear about his uncle was true after all. “O my prophetic soul!” he cries (1.5.40). After finding out all this information, Hamlet was in a dark spot that lead him to acting insane to investigate the accusations that his father had made.

This absolutely changed his mental state, and was the beginning of a numerous amount of murders. The audience sees a completely changed mental state when he decides to kill Macduff’s family. Finally, Macbeth’s mental state after his wife dies is ruined. He sees no reason to live anymore, and doesn’t care about the life he’s living, which is a strong contrast from the beginning of the play. The influence of outside sources on Macbeth’s character, ultimately led to his mental deterioration, and without them, the tragedy of Macbeth would not have been a tragedy at

In stories where a character experiences a downfall, there is always something or someone who is to blame. Readers may wonder whenever these kinds of incidents happen. In the William Shakespeare play, Macbeth, the character Macbeth has an incredibly horrible downfall that progresses from the beginning to the end of the play. He starts out a normal man whom the audience would never expect to change in the way he does. As his wife, Lady Macbeth, urges him to kill king Duncan so he can become king, his urge for killing only grows and transforms him into a serial killer.

Hamlet has come to see his mother, Queen Gertrude, and ends up stabbing Lord Polonius, which ultimately leads to his death. Lord Polonius’ final words include “O, I am slain!” Even though this provides a slight amount of comic relief to the reader, it has a reverse effect on Ophelia’s mental state. Her father’s death seems to be the potent punch in this fight because she officially goes mad after this final event. This is apparent in Scene IV Act I, when Laertes has come back to visit his sister and check on her well being. He is disappointed to see that Ophelia is displaying irrational behavior when she begins to sing “They bore him barefac’d on the bier; Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny; And on his grave rains many a tear.” She is so mentally ill that she must be locked in a padded room during the day.

Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare in 1606 about power and guilt. Though many scenes in the classic play, Macbeth talking to Banquo’s ghost, Lady Macbeth attempting to wash away the blood, and Lady Macbeth saying water will fix everything, are the three most important scenes to show the theme of guilt. Macbeth clearly wasn’t the same after the crimes he committed. “Thou canst not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me.” (3.4.52-53) Macbeth cries out. The guilt built up inside him from the murder.

With his father just being murdered by his uncle Claudius and Polonius banning the relationship between him and Ophelia, the only thought running through Hamlet’s mind was anger and revenge. The acts of violence throughout the play comes in three different forms; murder, suicide, and combat. Polonius is unexpectedly murdered, Ophelia goes mad and commits suicide, and Hamlet provokes a battle with Laertes that ends poorly for both men. All three of these violent acts can be traced back to clouded judgements, indecisiveness, anger, revenge, and heartbreak. Shakespeare created such acts of violence to keep the readers on their toes and informed, but also to invoke questions.

This scene shows Macbeth's guilt and his conscience coming into action once again as a vision as it was Macbeth who ordered Banquo to death, after him having suspicions of Macbeth killing Duncan. We see now that, funnily enough, Macbeth's guilt from a previous scene has led to another scene emphasising his guilt. We see this throughout the play quite evidently this pool of guilt getting larger and larger until it has reached its highest point. As soon as Macbeth comes into contact with the ghost of Banquo, corruption is brought to his mind and his conscience is flattened and destroyed and overridden with guilt causing the conscience of Macbeth to what was a feeling of ambition to the feelings of guilt and anxiety. During the Elizabethan and Jacobean period, religion had a heavy influence in society with many believing the living and dead were able to communicate.

I think this isn’t because, the ghost of the king said, “Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature” is meaning he did some bad stuff when he was alive that he is not proud of (DOC.A). Also in the Treatment of Gertrude, hamlet accidently killed Polonius thinking it was the king spying on them in front of Gertrude, before Polonius dies he says “O, I am slain!”. Right after that Hamlet told his mother, Gertrude, that the new king killed his father, she didn’t believe and told him to be quiet that she couldn’t handle it. After that happened Hamlet sees the ghost of the king again, saying that “To speak to her, hamlet” (doc.

Sleep is one of the purest forms of altered consciousness however, traumatic experiences can impede one’s unconscious thoughts. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan and the guards, grief stricken and afraid. He tells his wife that sleep itself has been murdered and that nobody is immune his treachery (5.1.44). Macbeth’s crime is intensified by the act of murder being done at night and to sleeping rather than awake guards. The moment of guilt that Macbeth felt for his actions represents the hidden innocence behind the crimes.

Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to kill Duncan, but he continues to have second thoughts about it (i.vii.31-34) and feels terribly guilty afterwards (II.ii.63-66). However, following the murder of Duncan, Macbeth loses any ethics he had left. Macbeth kills the servants, Banquo, and Macduff’s whole family in cold-blooded murder. On the other hand, when Banquo ponders the witches prophecy for him, he contemplates the thought of having to kill someone to get power, but he quickly shuts it down (III.i.9-11). In Macbeth, free will is the cause for Macbeth’s downfall and Banquo’s honest end.