Macbeth Guilt And Conscience Analysis

Macbeth is a complicated story, full of betrayal, witchcraft and murder. In Shakespeare’s famous play, Macbeth, Macbeth is a loyal subject, who fights bravely for his king, until three witches approach him and bring him the news that he himself will be king. The story then takes a turn for the worse, as Macbeth becomes greedy for power and will do anything to take and secure it. Macbeth commits terrible crimes but then realizes what he has done. Macbeth has a theme of guilt and conscience. This theme is shown both in Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s initial troubled conscience before Macbeth murders King Duncan and in Macbeth’s guilt afterward. The weight of this guilt contributes to Macbeth’s lack of attachment to life, which is his downfall at the end of the play. Before Macbeth kills Duncan, his conscience tells him that he should not kill the king. Lady Macbeth is the one who wanted to kill Duncan in the first place, and in the beginning, Macbeth went along with the plan. When his conscience tells him to stop, he confronts Lady Macbeth. “We will proceed no further in this business: / He hath honour'd me of late; and I have …show more content…
Macbeth’s struggles of guilt and conscience eventually weigh down on him so much that he completely loses appreciation for life. In the Bible, it says “But if he struck him down with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.” (English Standard Version Numbers 35:16). Macbeth was guilty of murder and was put to death. Similar to this, Macbeth himself said: “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague the inventor:” (Shakespeare 12-13). Macbeth was guilty of murder, and so he was murdered. This applies to the world, people guilty of one action, see it happen to themselves. However, because of Jesus, we can be forgiven for our wrongdoings, and we do not have to have guilt for what we have