Guilty Pleasure In the words of Coco Chanel, “Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.” Harboring immense levels of untreated guilt leads to the deterioration of the human mind in which the ability to handle mental turmoil and distinguish friend from foe is severely impaired. This follows Maslow’s pyramid of hierarchy as if a person is unable to comfortably express his or her emotions, then that individual will be consumed by his or her own instability. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is engulfed by the accumulating guilt of his actions which gradually decays his mental state as shown through hallucinations, the inability to perform basic daily functions, and extreme paranoia. Macbeth was not always wracked with guilt …show more content…
This is shown when Macbeth compares his visions of a floating dagger to “a dagger of the mind” (Shakespeare 2.1 39). Macbeth is wrought with guilt from the very idea of carrying out Duncan’s murder and, due to his sensitive characteristics, consequently punctures his sanity in order to handle this self-condemnation. After murdering Duncan, Macbeth insists that he hears voices cry in the night, “‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’” (Shakespeare 2.2. 35-36), but no one other than Lady Macbeth is awake to emit a sound. The cries are instead Macbeth’s conscience realizing that he will never rid himself from the nightmares of this night. These hallucinations are not only rupturing Macbeth’s mental health as a result of his guilt, but serve as the catalyst that impairs his ability to function in daily life …show more content…
This is shown through Macbeth’s obsession with manslaughter when Macbeth says, “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! Rather than so, come fate into the list, and champion me to th' utterance” (Shakespeare 3.1 73-74). Macbeth’s paranoia regarding Banquo’s children surmounting he is at such a great extent that Macbeth is willing to take extreme precautions in order to forestall the prophecy from ending his reign. However, not everything goes in Macbeth’s favor as the plan to murder both Banquo and Fleance is double the toil and trouble as Fleance escapes. This further agitates Macbeth’s anxiety causing him to feel “cabined, cribbed, [and] confined” (Shakespeare 3.4 25) by his own fate. Eventually this leads to Macbeth’s “very firstlings of [his] heart [being] the firstlings of [his] hand” (Shakespeare 4.1 153-154) when Macbeth orders Lennox to not only slaughter Lady Macduff and Macduff’s son, but “all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (Shakespeare 4.1 160). As Macbeth’s unstable mindset is consumed by anxiety, Macbeth continues to slaughter any possible threat, including those not directly involved, as he spirals into lunacy. The self-condemnation resulting from Macbeth’s increasingly heinous actions leads to Macbeth’s inevitable
The first instance of a guilty conscious creating hallucinations in Macbeth is the bloody dagger in Act 2 Scene 1. In Macbeth’s soliloquy, he is contemplating whether or not to follow through with Lady Macbeth’s plan of murdering Duncan, and in this process, attempts to grab an imaginary floating dagger. The dagger is a physical embodiment of
This pursuit for power ultimately results in his guilt; Shakespeare displays guilt through Macbeth's internal conflict and the many decisions that revolve
A Guilty Conscience: How Guilt Drives the Powerful to Insanity Guilt is the cause of the destruction of many, particularly in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue to murder for the sake of power, they embark on opposite journeys but their guilt ultimately drives them both to insanity. Macbeth goes from being driven mad with guilt, to his instability causing him to murder recklessly. His wife goes from expressing no compassion or guilt to her guilt overcoming her and driving her to madness.
Guilt plays a strong role in motivating Macbeth, and causes Lady Macbeth to be driven over the edge of her being insane leading to her death. Throughout the story, there are many different types of guilty feelings that play a role in Macbeth’s fatal decisions and bring Lady Macbeth to commit suicide. Although there are many instances that show the power guilt has played on the main characters, there are three examples
5-7). In this instance, Macbeth shows that he can feel guilt, and he exhibits this by demonstrating that he does not desire to end the life of a man whose family was already victimized at his hands. Guilt is the one thing throughout the entire play that stops Macbeth dead in his tracks and causes him to take a moment to consider his present and future courses of action. Although Macbeth was lead to commit murder by the witches’ manipulative predictions of the future, he is the one who ultimately makes the choices that prove that he is in control of his actions, even when his actions cause him to be filled with
Although introduced as a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth’s seemingly unbreakable character shatters when she is consumed by the demon of guilt. The guilt of Lady Macbeth seems nonexistent when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but the heinous acts she and her husband commit throughout the play strain her slowly. Eventually, the guilt Lady Macbeth harbors emerges from her subconscious and crumbles her. The downfall of Lady Macbeth reveals that even the toughest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt. At the commencement of William Shakespeare’s
This shows Macbeth in a vulnerable place of mind. He is experiencing this as a result of guilt he has deep down inside. Macbeth is appalled for the reason that he did not expect to live on with guilt after the murder of The king that Macbeth and Lady
Sleep is one of the purest forms of altered consciousness however, traumatic experiences can impede one’s unconscious thoughts. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan and the guards, grief stricken and afraid. He tells his wife that sleep itself has been murdered and that nobody is immune his treachery (5.1.44). Macbeth’s crime is intensified by the act of murder being done at night and to sleeping rather than awake guards. The moment of guilt that Macbeth felt for his actions represents the hidden innocence behind the crimes.
(Shakespeare 1.3.52-55). Macbeth is influenced by his greed for power to use ruthless actions, in this case to kill Duncan to receive the crown he thinks he needs to earn that power. Overwhelmed by his greed, he is already thinking about the “murder” as he
Macbeth begins to go insane after he murders King Duncan at the beginning of the play. Although he did it for a gain of power, he still feels very guilty. Macbeth starts saying weird things about what he heard, “Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!” to all the house. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more.
Stages of this mental illness touched on by the playwright are the overpowering initial impact, difficulties sleeping, and the suicidal tendencies. In the moments subsequent to the treasonous murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth feels an irrepressible amount of guilt. This occurrence is the root of her depression as she experiences the weight of her crime and needs to be “look[ed] to” (2.3.115) and “exit...helped” (2.3.Stage Directions). Subsequently, the shameful state of mind Lady Macbeth suffers provokes complications with her sleep. The queen’s “heart is sorely charged” (5.1.46) which “keep[s] her from her rest” (5.3.40).
Then from there a lot more murder takes place and the guilt starts to take its toll on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, as Macbeth “succumbs to insanity, while
This is further emphasized by the contrast with Macbeth 's response to the guilt he was faced
Macbeths guilty conscience makes him unable to play the ‘true’ role of a villain of the play. Macbeth begins to see ‘false creations’ before murdering Duncan; the image of a floating dagger taunts Macbeth’s senses. Macbeth is devoured in his anxiety he starts to hallucinate the crime before going through with it. Macbeth is unable to dispose thoughts of his guilt and doubt, which prevents him from being stuck at the point where it is too late to turn back, yet the fear of his nature prevents him from turning completely into a ruthless coldblooded
In the drama “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” William Shakespeare reflects on guilt . More specifically, Shakespeare implies guilt and how repercussions of guilt can be detrimental towards an individual because it creates emotional instability and distorted judgement. Guilt is displayed many times throughout the play, but mostly through internal conflicts of Macbeth. For instance, Macbeth feels internal guilt when he murdered King Duncan. Macbeth says, “ I’ll go no more/