How Is Guilt Shown In Macbeth

Guilt is defined as “having committed a specified or implied offense or crime.” In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the theme of guilt is very prevalent because it is incorporated within many characters. The main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, are two people that show the heaviest amount of guilt throughout their quest to become king and queen of Scotland. Their power hungry personalities eventually drive them to a killing spree when they lose control of their decision-making abilities and cause them to exacerbate their wrongdoings. In the play, guilt drives the characters insane emotionally, physically and psychologically, which results in the inability to control themselves and their actions.
The first sign of guilt

is depicted through Macbeth’s guilty conscience. After he kills King Duncan, he becomes very guilty and it causes him to hallucinate. He declares, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee./ I have thee not, and yet I see thee still./ Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/ To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but/ A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/ Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?” (II. 1. 33-40). His hallucinations are one indication of him driving insane, because all of the guilt caused stress in his brain. His actions and decisions can no longer be controlled by himself.
The second sign of guilt is incorporated into both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after they both commit crimes that drive them into madness. After Macbeth kills King Duncan, he states, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?” (II. 2. 61-620). Through symbolism, the blood represents the severity of the crime he had just committed and Neptune’s blood represents grace and forgiveness. The blood is stained on his hand, which represents that his guilt will haunt him for the rest of his life. When they both realize that their guilt is engulfed in them forever, their consciences’ are overcome by the bad deeds they have done. As a result, they go insane and eventually self-destruct.