Guilt In Lady Macbeth By William Shakespeare

Lady Macbeth would get up in the middle of the night and replay the night of the King's murder. Lady Macbeth says in her sleep: “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.” (5.1.28-30). In this quote, Lady Macbeth is openly stating that she is surprised that so much blood could come out of King Duncan's body. While Lady Macbeth was acting out in her sleep, Macbeth started acting out as well.

In Act 5 we can see Lady Macbeth plagued by sleepwalking fits. During these fits doctors observe her washing her hands from blood, yet somehow no amount of scrubbing can wash it off, implying that no matter how normal she acts, she cannot get rid of the guilt that engulfs her. These actions foreshadow what she says earlier in the play when after Macbeth has just killed Duncan. Macbeth was feeling an incredible amount of guilt and Lady Macbeth implies that all he needed to do was wash his hands and cleanse himself from his guilt, foreshadowing Lady Macbeth not being able to scrub off her guilt. These 2 actions can be interpreted as Lady Macbeth feeling assertive and dominant but soon after descending back into madness as her guilt catches up

Lady Macbeth's anguished conscience driven by guilt is conveyed through the use of symbolism and tone. When the doctor arrives to inspect Lady Macbeth’s condition, she begins to sleepwalk, during which she confesses her crimes. Recalling the murder of Duncan when she vigorously washes her hands, she repeats this action in her drowsy state. Her attempts to clean the blood off her hands symbolizes her obsessive desire to atone for her sins. Not only to repent, but also to be liberated from evil thoughts and obtain a pure mind can be inferred by the readers.

In reference to her previous wish in Act 1 where she said, “unsex me here”, it become evident that she has been, as she acts more ‘like a man’ than Macbeth does after Duncan’s murder. Additionally, the fact she says only a ‘little water’ will wash away her deeds, in contrast to Macbeth who says not even Neptune’s oceans can wash his hands clean, brings attention to her lack of remorse and cold-hearted nature, due to the promise of power of Macbeth and her being

In Act 2, Scene 2, he declares, "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep'" (2.2.33-34). This haunting line demonstrates the profound impact of guilt on Macbeth's psyche. His troubled mind generates hallucinations and delusions as a manifestation of his tormented conscience. These psychological experiences are not indicative of schizophrenia but rather the consequences of his moral decay and the weight of his heinous

In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses sleep to forward the themes of the play in three different scenes. The first instance where Shakespeare uses sleep to forward the themes of the play occurs when King Duncan is murdered by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The second illustration of Shakespeare using sleep happens when Macbeth’s only way of escaping the horrible reality he is living in is by sleeping. The final occurrence of Shakespeare using sleep in his play transpired during the end of the play when Lady Macbeth walks and talks while she sleeps, giving up confidential information about what she and Macbeth have done. The first instance where Shakespeare uses sleep to forward the themes of the play occurs in Act 2, when King Duncan is murdered by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

It triggers Macbeth’s paranoia and guilt, resulting in his overly desperate reliance on Lady Macbeth to the point that she must assume the dominant role between the two and take on the responsibility for concealing Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth assumes control and directs Macbeth to “carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood” (Shakespeare 2.2. 63-64) in order to sneakily incriminate the guards and alleviate the worries of her husband while mitigating his erratic behaviour. However, not only does Lady Macbeth now have to persevere through her own internal struggles as a consequence of the murder, but she must also be the point of support and relief for Macbeth that she is so seeking for herself. This dissonance of her responsibilities clashing with her own feelings intends to showcase the odds against this master manipulator.

Throughout the play, Macbeth’s actions are being controlled by the emotions of greed, fear, and jealousy. Firstly, Lady Macbeth begins to ask the spirits to hide her fear. She shows this when she asks the spirits to make her masculine and cruel. This is

However, the sleepwalking and Lady Macbeth believing her hands still have blood on them signifies that they will be forever punished for the crime they committed. She feels disillusionment and is unable to cope with the guilt that haunts her which ultimately results in Lady Macbeth killing

Secondly, later on after Lady Macbeth and Macbeth pull off the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and begins to aggressively rub her hands, saying she is trying to get a spot of blood off. She then proceeds to talk in her sleep saying, “Who would have / thought the old man to have had so much blood” (Shakespeare 5.1.33-34). Lady Macbeth’s guilt is being symbolized by the hallucinations of blood on her hands during her sleep. She is so overwhelmed with guilt, that she has to keep secret, that her subconscious is causing her to go crazy and talk about it in her sleep. Lastly, after the murderer, that Macbeth sent, tells Macbeth that he finished off Banquo, Macbeth must entertain guests for a dinner party.

She was also calling Duncan and his guards defenseless while in the vulnerable state of sleep. Lady Macbeth is taking advantage of their vulnerable sleep to kill Duncan. When the Lady Macbeth commits the murder of Duncan, guilt fills her mind. Sleep, which should be her most peaceful time of the day, now becomes “a great perturbation in nature,” full of anxiety and torture. Her hallucinations while sleepwalking build her growing insanity, and she has completely lost grip of reality.

"Eat our meal in fear and sleep / In the affliction of these terrible dreams / That shake us nightly" (3.2.17-19). This depicts that Macbeth is fearful, paranoid, and plagued with nightmares that will eventually lead him towards insanity. Additionally, in Act 5 it says "Rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon't, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep" (5.1.5-7). The motif is also effective in the quote because Lady Macbeth is acting like she is awake when she is actually asleep.

Sleepwalking "Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep" (5.1.3-7) Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking symbolizes the distress and psychological pain she is in. Since she demands Macbeth to kill innocent people, she becomes restless from guilt. According to Dream Dictionary, sleepwalkers are under a massive amount of stress and lack sleep. Lady Macbeth realizes she cannot escape the consequences of her actions, therefore she holds a lot of stress. Moreover, her eyes which remain open as she sleepwalks symbolize that she may never rest

Macbeth went through so much pressure to do the crime he later regretted and suffered and battles with himself and his paranoia. Lady Macbeth only saw the effects of blood visually she did not see how the blood stain was eating Macbeth from the inside. Once again Lady Macbeth is pushing Macbeth to forget about what happened and move on, the murder does not affect Lady Macbeth but the way Macbeth is acting shows that he was never ready to commit this

At first Lady Macbeth did not feel any guilt until things begin to get carried away. Sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth is heard saying, “Here's the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. ”(5:1:53-55) and“ Out damned spot, out, I say”(5.1.37). Lady Macbeth is saying these things because she is visualizing that there is blood still on her hands representing her extreme guilt because she knows what she did not was wrong.