Lady Macbeth's Guilt Analysis

The guilt of doing something we know we shouldn’t can pick apart our minds. We either go confess or go mad thinking about it. This theme of secrets piled upon one another until they bubble over, is evident in William Shakespeare’s, Macbeth. While it is easy for Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to physically wash away the evidence of their actions, it is very difficult to wash it from their memories and consciences.
Lady Macbeth cannot forget and move on from killing King Duncan, and others. The filth of her actions begin to control her mind. Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, trying to wash away these actions. She washes her hands, even though they are no longer covered in blood, she fears that “these hands [will] ne’er be clean” (5.1.40). Lady Macbeth’s guilt takes over her mind. She wants to undo what she has done, or at the very least, move past it. It is not as easy as it was to wash her hands of

Duncan’s blood. Lady Macbeth is finally feeling the effect of what she has done, much later after she had done it. This complete mental breakdown is evidence that deeds have a lasting effect. Lady Macbeth once thought that “a little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.85), but clearly it clearly did not.
Macbeth lets his guilt and past actions get the best of him as well. He lets the remorse he feels make him go crazy. When Macbeth sees Banquo, at the banquet he organized, even though Banquo’s “bones are marrowless,” and his “blood is cold” (3.4.115), it is clear that something is going on with Macbeth. He feels guilty for organizing the murder of Banquo, but will not confess. He does not want to be caught, but he makes it quite difficult for himself when he yells at who he believes is the ghost of Banquo in front of his guests. Macbeth easily planned the murder without making a mess, but he is having a tough time cleaning up the one he created in his mind. Banquo is dead, but his spirit continues to shake up Macbeth.
Not only are Lady Macbeth and Macbeth affected by the guilt they carry in small ways like sleepwalking or seeing things, but Lady Macbeth takes her own life to try and escape the cage of guilt she has been trapped in.

Macbeth finds this out by Seyton telling him that the sound they heard was “the cry of women… the queen, my lord, is dead” (5.5.9, 18). The fact that Lady Macbeth was so overcome with self-reproach that she killed herself really demonstrates how difficult it is to be rid of the stains and spots we create in our lives. Lady Macbeth’s conscience got the best of her and she could not forget about the lives destroyed and the secrets kept by her. She could not hide all of her emotions anymore, so she let them out in one horrifying gesture. Lady Macbeth convinced herself that she could be free of her secrets if she kept them to herself, but her guilt kept her trapped.
Lady Macbeth and Macbeth faced many obstacles due to the secrets they allowed to pile up inside them. It is not easy to move past one’s wrong-doings, which can destroy a person from the

inside-out.