Guilt In Macbeth's Facade '

It’s All a Facade

Shakespeare reveals that people react to emotions in different ways in his novel Macbeth. Lady Macbeth decides she needs to be powerful for her husband because he won’t be powerful on his own, but when they commit murder, the guilt consumes both of them. Through symbolism, imagery and diction, Shakespeare depicts that people hide who they are.

Macbeth’s hidden guilt for killing Duncan and Banquo is shown through symbolism. After King Duncan’s death has been announced, Macbeth appears to be stunned, but he knows the severity of his actions. When he’s with his wife, Lady Macbeth, he wants “this blood clean from my hand” (II. ii. 78-79). The blood symbolizes his guilt for murdering Duncan, and he wants this guilt to go away. After Duncan’s death, Macbeth has his friend Banquo killed. After this murder, Macbeth has a mental breakdown due to guilt. While holding a dinner at his house he yell “quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy

Behind the mask of being a fragile woman, she is portrayed as a powerful and cruel being, but she changes after Macbeth kills Duncan. Before his murder, she listed out her plan to kill Duncan “when Duncan is asleep-- Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey soundly invite him--his two chamberlains will I with wine” (I. vii. 69-72). He rambling like this showed that she might be nervous, but knew what she was doing. After the murder, the guilt starts to kick in. She starts giving one word answers to her husband’s questions and finally decides that “these deeds must not be thought after these ways; so it will make us mad” (II. ii. 47-48). When she says this to her husband she realizes that the guilt of killing someone will eventually drive them insane, and she becomes quiet because she feels the guilt starting to sink in. The change in Lady Macbeth’s diction was what gave away her guilt, even though she tried to seem like a powerful and cruel being to her