Examples Of Guilt In Macbeth

“Guilt is the source of sorrows. The avenging fiend that follows us behind with whips and stings”(Nicholas Rowe). It is the feeling of having done wrong to anyone or anything. Remorse is positive in many ways, but when a single person carries too much guilt it can overpower them. Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, is filled with examples of guilt through multiple characters, specifically, Macbeth. A Scottish general named Macbeth received a prophecy from three witches that one day stating that he will become king. Consumed by impatience, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne. He was immediately flooded with guilt. Forced to perpetrate more and more murders in order to protect himself from people with suspicions and secure his position

as king, he quickly became a tyrant ruler. The war of Macduff and Macbeth lead to the death of Macbeth. Shakespeare proves through the character Macbeth that guilt can destabilize a person physically and physiologically. He does this by proving how guilt can damage and ruin one's mind set, showing negative effects on Macbeth’s mental state through dialogue and symbolism, and exemplifying how guilt can physically change a person for the worse.
After Macbeth kills Duncan, Shakespeare shows that guilt can physically change a person for the worse. The first feeling of guilt shown to the readers in the play was the moment after Macbeth killed Duncan. Macbeth starts to hear his conscience talk to him but he believes it is a ghost of some sort, it says, “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’- the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care, the death of each day’s life”(II.2.38-41). Macbeth’s guilt controls him right from the beginning of the play. He hears and imagines this which lead him to being unstable and ruthless. He became paranoid and scared because Macbeth let his guilt dominate him mentally and physically. “But where fore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’? I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ stuck in my throat”(II.2.34-36). The guilt and trama Macbeth faced in the moment he killed Duncan paralyzed him. He could not say the word “Amen” because of the guilt he had. He felt he did not deserve to say a holy word because of his sin. Guilt physically affected what he did all the time after he killed Duncan. Guilt controls everything a person does. It has the power to physically destroy a person.
Another way Shakespeare shows the negative effects on Macbeth’s mental state is through dialogue and symbolism. He is implying that killing does not come without consequences and guilt. King Duncan was staying the night at his found to be trustworthy cousins castle, Macbeth, when that night while he was asleep Macbeth went into his chambers and killed him using a dagger. He then comes into the washroom with blood all over him to meet his wife Lady Macbeth, he says, “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”(II.2.65-68). Shakespeare uses symbolism with the blood that never washes off to represent the guilt Macbeth feels because it will never go away. The guilt for killing Duncan mentally attacks Macbeth, putting him in deep stress and pain. It scares him so bad he says, “I am scared to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not”(II.2.55&56). Macbeth felt very ashamed about the crime he committed. He regretted all he had done to Duncan. Guilt is a nasty thing when one lets it control their mind, guilt will never let anyone forget what they have done.
Shakespeare uses Macbeth to prove how guilt can damage and ruin one's well being.

When guilt is strong enough, it can lead one to insanity, this happened to Macbeth after killing one of his best friends, Banquo. The murderer comes in and tells Macbeth that Banquo is dead, Macbeth then goes back to his dinner party and hallucinates the ghost of Banquo, therefore, he says, “If I stand here, I saw him”(III.4.76). Macbeth is having hallucinations of Banquo because he feels the guilt for his death. This furthers how Macbeth’s feeling of guilt destabilizes him psychologically. Banquo’s ghost tortured and haunted Macbeth because of the extent of the remorse he felt for Banquo’s death. Guilt has the ability to manipulate a person psychologically. Once Banquo’s ghost was gone, Macbeth’s guilt rushes in and he makes a toast to Banquo from the remorse and regret he feels, “I drink to th’ general joy o’ th’ whole table, and to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss. Would he were here!”(III.4.90-92). The second after Macbeth heard Banquo was dead, he knew it was his fault and he regretted it. Guilt is a weird thing, one does not feel it until one knows the wrong has been committed. Guilt completely tortures and ruins a person's mind when one lets the guilt dominate

them.
Shakespeare proves how guilt can destabilize one physically and psychologically, when a person lets it reign over them. Shakespeare shows the damages guilt causes to one’s mindset by the negative effects on Macbeth’s mental state, physical change guilt forces upon one, and how badly ruined a mind can be after guilt took complete control over one. Guilt has the ability to completely control one’s life, as Terri Guillemets a quotation anthologist and author from Arizona, said, “Guilt is always hungry, don’t let it consume you.” Shakespeare’s message is still relevant today because today many people let guilt own their life, it physically and emotionally destroys a person. Guilt is a good thing, it keeps people honest and doing the right thing, but when one lets too much guilt in it becomes destructive.