The Role Of Guilt In Macbeth

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.

She excuses his strange behavior to everyone else by saying “My lord is often thus and hath been from his youth ”(Shakespeare 3.4. 56-57.) and then further reassures them by saying “this fit is momentary; upon a thought he will be well again.”(Shakespeare 3.4.58-59.) This act of excusing Macbeth’s behavior leads him to go mad with grief. When Macbeth learns later in the play that Lady Macbeth has committed suicide, he finally decides that he can no longer live with the remorse that is inside of him.

Macbeth absent, completing king duties, arrives back to check on her and plans to tell her of his future plans of murder. In a normal state, Lady Macbeth would agree to this plan but her mental breakdown changes her. She originally strived for his ambition and to use his power, but killing so many people have made her feel uneasy. She filled herself with this guilt which brought forward her greatest fear,

First, her boyfriend dumps her, then he calls her vulgar names, and lastly, he kills her father. Just one of these traumatic events could make a character go mad, but the combination of the three justifies Ophelia’s madness. The use of these three tragic events in Ophelia’s life makes her madness reasonable. The first event to happen that changes Ophelia’s demeanor is her relationship problems with her boyfriend, Hamlet. In Act III, Scene I of the play, Ophelia says to Hamlet “My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long

Finally Macbeth ambition and his evil action has repay mentally and physically. When all the thane is grouping up together to fight against Macbeth, in the castle of Macbeth has something painfully happen to Macbeth is Lady Macbeth has passed away. Macbeth said “she should die here after. There would be a time for such a word.”(5.5.19). This proves how miserable Macbeth is that he has to hidden his feeling toward her the war was about to happen soon.

While he is haunted by guilt, Macbeth has to secure his throne by murdering Banquo and Fleance. At the end of the feast which was set up for assassinating Banquo and his son, Macbeth is again terrified by the news that Fleance has fled and Banquo’s ghost will dried blood over his body. He said to the ghost: “Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake/ Thy gory locks at me.” (3.4.51-52) These reactions all showed his ambivalence and the hatred to

Being his wife she has even darker plans for him before he was even thinking of doing anything about the crown. She hatches a plot to frame the guards for the murder by leaving the knife Macbeth uses to kill the King near them while they are drugged. Macbeth does the deed of killing Duncan but brings the knife back and is very set back by what he just did and completely forgets he is supposed to leave the knife near the guards to make it look like they did. Lady Macbeth goes back and does this herself showing her utter ruthlessness to get Macbeth on the throne more than he really even wants to. She questions his ability to do the task, “IF we should fail?

Originally, Macbeth needed persuasion from his lady to follow through with Duncan’s murder; however, the audience sees Macbeth’s ambition grow when he plans Banquo’s death on his own. He even tells his wife to “be innocent of knowledge, dearest chuck” (3.2.45). This act of lonely violence displays the progress of Macbeth’s ambition. He went from a man who needed an extra push in order to carry out such an evil plan to one who was able to orchestrate his own scheme. Guilt and fear consume Macbeth after the first murderer informs him that Banquo has been killed but his son Fleance escaped the murderous grasp.

His decision to kill Macduff’s family was one that cost him his life. Macduff immediately retaliated and unleashed his army upon Macbeth’s army with the help of Malcolm. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth is beginning to go mad, has started to sleepwalk, and has lost her mind. As the enemy forces approach in the distance of Forres, Lady Macbeth kills herself. When the horrific news is revealed to Macbeth he states, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (V. v).

Macbeth states that “Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires” (I.iv.58-60). Macbeth is still surprised with the prophecies and finds that killing Duncan is bad. He feels guilty how the witches told his prophecy and that he would feel guilty on acting upon those actions of killing Duncan. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth about his prophecy.