guilt

• key ideas

  • Is a tragedy – we witness how succumbing to ambition, a temptation that defies divine order, unleashes a relentless amount of guilt that ultimately consumes characters.
  • Exemplifies brutal war between ambition and divinely sent guilt.
  • Remorse = gift from God – chance for reflection & redemption.
  • Ambition = toxic fuel, propels characters toward heinous acts fueled by selfish desire.
  • Stain of guilt proves eternal – façade of bravery crumbles as it festers within the conscience, leading to a ghastly descent of madness.
• intentions 


  • Shakespeare paints a cautionary tale – those who disrupt cosmic order or defy will of heaven face brutal consequences.
  • Implies an ever-watchful eye, a divine force that punishes those who overstep.
  • Macbeth’s unbridled desire for power becomes a consuming fiend, blinding him to morality and religion.
  • As ambition takes over, guilt consumes around their conscience, tightening its grip as transgressions from grace unfold.
  • King James I was a patron – Shakespeare uses play as a veiled allegory.
  • Unforgiving act of regicide will torment with guilt.
  • Potent reminder of consequences of disrupting divinely ordained order.
  • Audience witness Macbeth’s descent into madness – chilling message:
  • Toppling a king, anointed by God, leads not to glory but a tragic downfall.
• macbeth critic

  critic d.j enright argues macbeth is a “long distance runner of evil” who unlike his wife endured a gradual decent into madness and is not consumed by a single overwhelming episode but haunted by guilt in his reign
• macbeth - ”i heard a voice cry”


  • Recurring motif that makes sleep synonymous with innocence.Macbeth, troubled by guilt, has a disturbed sleep pattern - departure from innocence.
  • Disintegration of innocence is a consequence of deceitful actions in seizing the throne and committing regicide.
  • no longer used imperative commands to reflect on mental anguish and haunting "cries" which torment him
  • "Sleep no more!" exclamative sentence - enduring an irreversible nature of macbeth's loss of sleep and innocence
  • disruption of natural order through wickedness masked by a facade of moral piety - forever condemned mind to relentless torment of guilt
  • sempiternally he will battle with moral restlessness finding no redemption or salvation - murderous tyrant who defied moral order
• macbeth - “i am in blood”


  • Motif of blood - previously blood was merely on his hand yet now has enclosed his entire body, and by extension his entire sense of being
  • Macbeth's response to fear and guilt has transitioned from being horrified to indulging further into heinous acts; murder now becomes his means of self-preservation
  • Wade has biblical allusions - metaphorical "wading in blood" exemplifies how he acknowledges his conscience is permanently stained with guilt
  • Similar to Cain in the book of Genesis - commits first murder inBible
• lady macbeth critique

  critic d.j enright brands lady macbeth “a sprinter of evil” as her descent to madness is as rapid as her climb to tyranny - quickly transformed from a barbaric women to carcass of insanity
• lady macbeth - “a little water clears us of this deed”


  • act 2
  • litote presents lady macbeths omnipotent ambitions blind her to macbeth mental turmoil
  • her callousness becomes apparent through her litotes
  • "a little" trivialised the regicide whilst simultaneously emasculating macbeth, encouraging him further along his murderous path
  • euphemism characterises regicide as a mere "deed" highlighting a paradoxical aspect of her charecter
  • despite ambitions to rid of feminine traits and embrace tyrannical brutality
  • struggles to articulate the gravity of heinous act
  • foreshadows descent into melodramatic carcass of insanity by act 5
  • grapples with inability to fully grasp enormity of sins
• lady macbeth - taper


  • "(Enters with a taper)" Act 5 - taper provides light - Emblematic of howL.M. is seeking light, hope and solace in her eternal moral darkness.
  • Christian symbolism - light is representative of hope, divine guidance.
  • She is desperate, grasping for solace and a subconscious plea for God's redemption from the sins that torment her.
  • Need for light is the antithesis to Act 1 where she calls upon the night, wanting darkness to fuel her malevolent plan - "come thick night"
  • development.
  • Motif of darkness and light reinforces now L.M.'s depraved and dark want for violence consequently causes her desperation to join light and seek salvation.
• banquo topic sentence

  banquo feels immense guilt thinking of the supernatural and diverting away from god, he is constrained by humility and guilt not driven by ambition
• banquo - “i dreamed of the three wierd sisters“

  • "i dreamed of the three weird sisters last night" (banquo) "i think not of them" macbeth - act 2
  • scrupulous, pious and honest and the anti thesis to the theme
  • external demeanour aligns seamlessly with his true nature, exemplifying a stark contrast where his appearance mirrors reality
  • abstract noun "dreamed" signifies affliction he is haunted in waking moments and realm of sleep - intrusion of superstition into banquos consciousness trespassing his unconscious mind