Guilt

• "Full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife" ↝ [a3s2]


  • Metaphor - scorpions represent evil as they inject poison into your body. Mirrors how Macbeth's mind is tainted by poisonous, damaging thoughts.
  • Metaphor depicts the power of his guilty conscience as it's constantly antagonising his thoughts.
• "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" ↝ [a2s2]

  • 'great Neptune's ocean' - Hyperbolic language exemplifies the depth of Macbeth's guilt as he feels not even a God could save him.
  • 'my hand?' - hypophora reveals Macbeth's acceptance of his guilt
  • His fixation on his hand may be symbolic of Macbeths being the architect of his own downfall.
• "Out, out brief candle...full of sound & fury, signifying nothing" ↝ [a5s5]

  • Change in tone in this soliloquy evokes the impression that Macbeth has suddenly awoke from his stupor. His wife is dead, kingdom is falling apart & he's truly alone. His ambition & sacrifice has resulted to nothing.
  • 'sound & fury' represents his violence & painful guilt which 'signifies nothing' as he has never accomplished anything everlasting. Macbeth acknowledges his ambition can't live on past his death & nor can his power. His crisis is caused by the undeniable truth of his own mortality.
• "Out brief candle! Life's but a waking shadow, a poor player.... It is a tale" ↝ [a5s5]

  • 'candle', 'shadow', 'player', 'tale' - nouns connote imitations and emptiness. Additionally, they are all delicate or temporary - Shakespeare suggests that everyone is insignificant, a mere candle flame compared to the light of the whole universe.