The Role Of Guilt In Macbeth

Macbeth is William Shakespeare's darkest and arguably his most tragic play. It begins with a brave, honest man named Macbeth, who was married to a wicked, malicious woman. As the play progresses the swap of these characters' personalities quickly unfolds. Because Macbeth's ambition had been spurred on by his wife and Lady Macbeth had no outlet for her grief and sorrow the reversal of roles begin. By the end of the play they fully trade roles, Lady Macbeth fully descends into madness riddled with guilt and Macbeth turns into a tyrant devoid of virtue. As the events of the play unfold, they assume each others role and make choices that consequently lead them down a path riddled with chaos and insanity that they cannot escape. When the audience

Lady Macbeth gets cut out of Macbeth's plans for further murder and wickedness. She covers for husbands hallucinations and madness, still encourages him, and hides her guilt; however, since she cannot "give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak whispers the o'erfraught heart and bids it break" (Shakespeare, 38). The unspoken shame and regret whispers in heart and it is breaking her. Macbeth becomes King, but knows that Banquo and his descendants are a threat to him and unless they are killed his title would never be safe. He hires two assassins and masquerades as a third to make sure the job gets done. Macbeth has become “ bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin that has a name" (Shakespeare, 35), but he has not fully lost yet. It was not until he killed Macduff's entire household without anything to gain besides satisfaction for his vengeance that he lost himself. This was the pivotal moment where this notorious couple traded

There would have been a time for such a word" meaning that she would have dies later anyways then he proceeds to say that life is "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," life is devoid of meaning. He is tired of life and wishes that the world will be inflicted will the chaos inside of him. He wants to ravage Scotland with the inner turmoil that sorrow has brought onto him. Under Macbeth's tyranny Scotland has become a land "where violent sorrow seems a modern ecstasy" (Shakespeare, 37). He is a monster of man and tyrant of a king, who was ticked into believing that he is invincible. His death comes by the blade of Macduff's sword and all of Scotland celebrates the death of this monstrous fiend who had once been their comrade, an honest man named Macbeth. If Lady Macbeth had never spurred Macbeth's ambition on, he never would of committed murder and fallen down a path of chaos and destruction and Lady Macbeth would not have any hidden guilt and sorrow that would eventually drive her mad with grief. Killing King Duncan was the gateway that would lead to their reversal of roles and their destruction. Guilt and grief create a tragedy of turmoil that can destroy its' victims from the inside out or it can leave them devoid of feeling as they release it on those they once held