The Loss Of Guilt In William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Improved Essays
The absence of guilt can destroy a human mentally, physically and emotionally. This is because a lack of guilt can make a human lose the things that make them human. They will lose morals, they will misuse power to destroy relationships so they can gain more power. Without guilt a human will have a loss of humanity, loss of morality and they will misuse power to destroy relationships to get more power. In Macbeth William Shakespeare portrays that the absence of guilt can turn a human into a cold, ruthless, vicious and cruel animal. This animal will take care of what is to be taken care of like gaining more strength and power. They do whatever they can whether it is right or wrong there are no morals because humans have morals.

A person without
…show more content…
So Macbeth has no values he does not care about what is right or wrong because there is no right or wrong but there is a strong desire and objective Macbeth wants to get. Which is to hold his position as king and get rid of what might hold him back or distract him from getting this goal. Macbeth does not feel any emotions to what he has done. He had innocent people killed because of Macduff’s actions. Macbeth says, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to the edge o’ the sword his wife his babes, and all the unfortunate souls” (4.1.165-167). Macbeth wants to kill the innocent because he does not known the difference of what is right and what is wrong. He has trouble with Macduff not Macduff’s family but he decides to kill the family because Macduff wants to steal the throne and give it to Malcolm. Macbeth has no morality he had an innocent family killed which is wrong but the more power you get the more you want. This just gives you an idea of how much of an animal Macbeth has turned …show more content…
He also killed people he didn’t have relationships with to gain more power. Duncan kills the Thane of Cawdor Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth kills King Duncan and the guards and then gains the title of king because the Thane of Cawdor is king if the current king dies he also said he killed the guards of out of rage. Macbeth has Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son killed. Banquo was killed because of his bloodlines of kings and Macbeth feared Banquo being king. Lady Macduff and her son was killed because of Macduff’s actions they were affecting Macbeth because of what Macduff was going to. Lady Macbeth died because of Macbeth he did not physically kill her but he drove her to kill herself she felt guilty and could not handle what was happening so she committed suicide. Murdering friend or people he has known is what helps him get more power because they affected him or was in his way. Macbeth was driven to become king because of the witches and the prophecies. The witches said Macbeth will be Thane of Glamis and Cawdor and later king. Macbeth didn’t really think he was going to be Thane of Cawdor because the Thane of Cawdor was still alive but he did not know Duncan was going to murder him. Macbeth did become Thane of Glamis and then he started believing the witches and that is what drove him to murdering the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    , he is too motivated by his conscience to fulfill his reputation. Towards the mid-part of the speech, euphemisms prove that Macbeth is focussed more on the consequences he could face, rather than ambitions. When Macbeth says that “Bloody instructions, which being taught return/ To plague the inventor: this even handed justice/ Commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice/ To our own lips” (1.7: 9-12). Guilt will haunt him for a long time.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shakespeare leaves out the physical act of murder in Act 2 because he is trying to convey how guilt consumes peoples and destroys their lives, which is shown when Macbeth feels guilty after murdering Duncan. When he returns from killing Duncan, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth has murdered sleep’-the innocent sleep”(II.ii.47-48). After murdering Duncan, Macbeth hears voices that accuse him of murdering sleep.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Macbeth had to murder several people to keep the role of being king. He had his best friend killed by some murderers and attempted with his son, the already king so he could get his title, and he was responsible of the killing of Macduff’s wife and son. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee,” (Textbook).…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Basically, Macbeth is able to hire murderers to kill Macduff’s innocent family and this action portrays pure evil. The people of Scotland allow him to do this because he has the power, since he is the King. Rauber insists the “terrible irruption of Macbeth’s tyranny which shakes both the state and its inhabitants almost to destruction” (59). Macbeth is given a lot of power and control, but only uses it negatively on the people around him. He could be a great leader, who helps and cares for his kingdom; instead he abuses his power and hurts the people around him.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Guilt can tear a person down, or in rare cases it can build a person up. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare he shows both types of guilt in the characters. Most show the sad and angry guilt ,but a few let it drive them forward. All types of guilt will change a person, but it will effect some more than others. The guilt they feel and the fear of facing consequences negatively affects the mental health of Macbeth, Macduff, and Lady Macbeth.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the play Macbeth William Shakespeare showed how guilt affects some of the characters in the play and used several motifs to show the guilt. Some of the characters affected by guilt in the play through the motifs of blood, sleepwalking, and ghosts to show guilt were Macbeth and Lady Macbeth The first person who felt the effect of guilt was Macbeth. After committing the murders Macbeth begins getting haunted by the ghosts of the people he killed. On page 101 the text states “‘Thou canst not say I did it.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Disney's The Lion King and Shakespeare play Macbeth convey the message that guilt will lead a person to choose good and evil through foreshadowing, motif, and foil characters. Both works of literature are different in style but share the same message. Guilt goes hand in hand with power, if you have the power you have a responsibility, if you have a responsibility you must do everything in your power to fulfill your responsibility. Just make sure you choose the…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Guilt is a miserable feeling one endures after committing a dishonest or immoral act. Often one can relive their guilty conscience by trying to fix their wrongdoing. The play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, narrates about a kind and good hero Macbeth who serves the king of Scotland by the name of Duncan. Macbeth became the main character of the story by murdering the king and taking his place. Using the symbols of blood, hallucinations and sleep, Shakespeare illustrates that guilt is a powerful and self-destructive force.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Macbeth Haunted By Guilt

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The play takes place in Scotland in the 11th century where the brave, loyal warrior Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches that he will be king someday. When he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, she is thrilled by the news and consumed by ambition she wants him to expedite the process so they plot to kill King Duncan. After succeeding, it starts a killing-spree of those who might be a threat to the throne. But haunted by guilt and neither of them can “wash the blood off their hands”.…

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Macbeth Essay The Effect of Greed for Power on Regretful Actions Everyone possesses greed, and everyone longs for power. Especially in individuals next-in-line to the throne, to soon become a ruler seems exciting and becomes a goal to work towards. However, the state of mind that makes a position of power a priority in one’s life often causes the individual to commit regretful actions that have permanent effects.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A good amount of violence happens in this play all because one tries to conquer a throne or as well as one portraying one another, like it is mentioned before, Lady Macbeth is the one to instigate the violence in the beginning of the play, but later in the play she is being introduced to her own thoughts that went through her head when she wanted individuals to be killed, and that was when she was tortured in her sleep all because she led Macbeth to take lives of royalty so he can be on top of the throne. The type of violence happening weren't just any kind of violence all of it was described in such detail that made the reader feel shocked, it read in the scenes at one point that Macduff's head was carried on to the stage and his family was slaughtered,…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Guilt Theme In Macbeth

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Guilt is an emotion associated with feelings of shame, regret, or responsibility for something a person has done. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the two protagonists, Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth, both suffer feelings of guilt for a heinous crime, the murder of their king. Guilt manifests itself differently in these two characters, as it does in every guilty person. Shakespeare uses blood imagery to develop the theme of guilt, as both characters struggle with and grow accustomed to the presence of blood throughout the play.…

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shakespeare 's play “Macbeth”, the main character Macbeth is fraught with guilt and anxiety after being told by three witches that he would someday be king. He sees no other way to become king other than by killing the current King Duncan, who he was once very loyal to. Once doing so, he does not see any way to keep his kingship besides by killing those whom he saw as a threat, even people who were once very close and loyal to him. While his actions may be considered evil, he did what he did because he did not know what else he could do. When he kills people, he does so because he sees them, in his paranoia and fear, as a threat, he does not do it for fun.…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare examines guilt. Clearly, he believes that guilt will always torture you after committing something wrong. In the play, the actor Lady Macbeth states, “Here’s the smell of blood still. All the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. /…

    • 116 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Being caught red handed is a universal symbol of guilt in the sense that one has done something unwholesome, but it usually does not equate to the feeling of remorse, as it does in Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth. No one catches Lady Macbeth with literal blood on her hands, but she still has an unclean conscience long after the murder. Bloody hands symbolize the guilt held within Lady Macbeth, significantly playing into her character development, transitioning her from cold hearted and unfeeling to insane from remorse, leading her to kill herself with her own hands. Directly after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth feels much more guilty than Lady Macbeth, and creates a metaphor comparing guiltiness to the cleanliness of one’s hand, while Lady Macbeth does not yet understand the remorse that he feels.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays