Comparing Guilt In Macbeth And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Everybody alive has experienced the feeling of guilt, or at least will at some point. Usually, this feeling is quite healthy for our consciousness, helping us distinguish between what is right and wrong by our own moral principles and values. However, guilt holds quite a power to really disturb the mind. This theme of the relationship between guilt and sanity is common throughout literature, and patterns to how this is expressed through texts are very evident. Four texts which I will discuss this theme through is Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, and The Animals’ version of Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. By comparing and contrasting these texts we are able to get a better understanding

In Macbeth, there are direct references to the Bible and the Christian religion that support this idea, and quotes said by Macbeth: ‘list’ning to their fear I could not say “amen” When they did say “God bless us!”... “But wherefore could not I pronounce “Amen”? I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” Stuck in my throat.’ Macbeth interprets this as a rejection from his religion and God; caused maybe because the Great Chain of Being or the divine right to rule had been broken from killing King Duncan. It brings up the question: would Macbeth still feel as guilty if he did not hold any faith? If there was no speculated punishment for the committed murder - would Macbeth’s guilt still push his psyche to as darker places? The belief of God without a doubt does hold an influence over the morals people hold, and if guilt is caused by a violation of one’s morals and principles, is guilt worsened by the fear of punishment from God? Or does guilt stay at the same intensity? The song Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood is a good reflection of Macbeth exploring this idea, but not so deeply. The piece itself is about a man (the narrator) who commits some form of domestic violence against his partner/wife, and is begging for forgiveness - asking God to understand that he didn’t truly mean to hurt her and that he is sorry, ‘I’m just a soul whose intentions are

But when one’s actions are so abominable, the guilt they bear seems to be impossible to ever get rid of. So are all feelings of guilt able to be overcome? Or are there just some kinds of guilt people hold that can’t be relieved. This idea that some guilt can’t be relieved is evident in two texts in particular: Macbeth and Frankenstein. Firstly in Macbeth: ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.’ Here Shakespeare uses the language technique of allusion in conjunction with symbolism to express how much Macbeth is overwhelmed with guilt from murdering King Duncan. The first question Macbeth asks to himself is him wondering if the guilt inside him will ever leave, and the second part is him realising that the murder was so bad - that guilt will never be rid from his conscious. We see this again later in the play after Macbeth is responsible for more murders: “… I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more. Returning were as tedious as go o’er” The blood spoken about is used in both a literal and symbolic sense. Macbeth has literally felt the blood of those he murdered, but symbolically it means he is suffering so much guilt and committed too much evil that he will never be able to go back to the man he was before the