Why Is Guilt Important In Macbeth

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. Never shake thy gory locks at me,’”(3.4). This line is what Macbeth says after seeing the ghost of Banquo at the dinner. Banquo was there because Macbeth had sent the murderers out to kill Banquo and his son as they had become too suspicious of his evil doings and had come back to haunt him causing Macbeth to act very strange. He then went to Lady Macbeth to tell her about his guilt coming back to haunt him. The second symbol of guilt for Macbeth was the blood on his …show more content…
She had the same problem as Macbeth but she was having a hard time getting the smell of blood off of her hands. “‘Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,’”(5.1). This also shows the guilt not going away just like the smell of blood on her hands as she tries to get the smell to go away as she tries to forget and move one. Then her guilt was also shown through sleepwalking. Guilt is shown as she confesses everything she has done in her sleep. She and Macbeth both have a hard time sleeping because they are being haunted by the ghosts of the many people that they killed to become king and queen. “‘Still it cried ‘sleep no more!’ to all the house; ‘Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more! Macbeth shall sleep no more’”. The lack of sleep because of killing is related to guilt because they are being haunted by the guilt of what they did and is driving them