Enmity of Man and Conscience In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character Macbeth is in the midst of fighting the battle of right and wrong. His conscience plays a big part in the play, whether it’s its presence or it’s absence, it affects the way Macbeth makes decisions and feels about those choices. The definition of conscience is an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior. Macbeth has to make a decision: whether or not he should kill King Duncan. He plays around with the idea for some time, weighing the pros and cons but eventually chooses to kill the king. Macbeth’s conscience plays a big role within the play. First, it begins as a guide, helping Macbeth make his decisions
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As said previously, the conscience is something that informs someone of the rightness or wrongness of his or her decision. When one goes against their conscience and gets what’s called a guilty conscience, many aftereffects are presented. Depression, fear, anxiety, stress, insomnia, frustration, paranoia, and non rational thinking are all side effects of a guilty conscience. Macbeth experiences many of these following the murder of King Duncan. He views himself as fully sinful and a lost cause, demonstrated in many quotes. He says that right after he killed Duncan, he “had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’/ Stuck in my throat” (II.ii.42-44). This is similar to ancient lore where vampires cannot speak holy words because they are hellish demons that are enemies of God and therefore do not have a place approaching him. Macbeth also refers to himself in the past tense, saying that he “had lived a blessed time” (II.ii.107-112) implying that he himself or, rather, his soul, has died due to the blood on his hands. When Lady Macbeth urges her husband to clean the blood off of himself, he despairs that when dipping his blood coated hands into the ocean, his “hand will rather/ the multitudinous seas incarnadine,/ Making the green one red” (II.ii.76-81). He believes himself to be so bloody and sinful that no amount of water could ever wash him free of his sins. …show more content…
Notwithstanding, he never wanted to go back and to appease his actions because “Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III.iv.169). He is so wrapped up within his sin that going back would mean certain death. He is too greedy and power hungry and esurient to give up his power and his luxurious life to be right by moral and conscience standings. This is why he let his conscience, or lack thereof, slowly destroy him. Macbeth certainly has a conscience at the beginning of the play, however, he destroys it. In 1 Timothy 4:2, it is said that “Such teachings come from the false words of liars whose consciences are destroyed as if by a hot iron.” Macbeth didn’t ignore his conscience. He twisted his way around words and circumstances that right and wrong blurred together, effectively destroying his internal moral
As said previously, the conscience is something that informs someone of the rightness or wrongness of his or her decision. When one goes against their conscience and gets what’s called a guilty conscience, many aftereffects are presented. Depression, fear, anxiety, stress, insomnia, frustration, paranoia, and non rational thinking are all side effects of a guilty conscience. Macbeth experiences many of these following the murder of King Duncan. He views himself as fully sinful and a lost cause, demonstrated in many quotes. He says that right after he killed Duncan, he “had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’/ Stuck in my throat” (II.ii.42-44). This is similar to ancient lore where vampires cannot speak holy words because they are hellish demons that are enemies of God and therefore do not have a place approaching him. Macbeth also refers to himself in the past tense, saying that he “had lived a blessed time” (II.ii.107-112) implying that he himself or, rather, his soul, has died due to the blood on his hands. When Lady Macbeth urges her husband to clean the blood off of himself, he despairs that when dipping his blood coated hands into the ocean, his “hand will rather/ the multitudinous seas incarnadine,/ Making the green one red” (II.ii.76-81). He believes himself to be so bloody and sinful that no amount of water could ever wash him free of his sins. …show more content…
Notwithstanding, he never wanted to go back and to appease his actions because “Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III.iv.169). He is so wrapped up within his sin that going back would mean certain death. He is too greedy and power hungry and esurient to give up his power and his luxurious life to be right by moral and conscience standings. This is why he let his conscience, or lack thereof, slowly destroy him. Macbeth certainly has a conscience at the beginning of the play, however, he destroys it. In 1 Timothy 4:2, it is said that “Such teachings come from the false words of liars whose consciences are destroyed as if by a hot iron.” Macbeth didn’t ignore his conscience. He twisted his way around words and circumstances that right and wrong blurred together, effectively destroying his internal moral