Guilt

• Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth break moral codes in the play


  They both experience strong feelings of guilt because of their actions
• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's guilt is a result of their disobeying the natural order of the world


  Kings are to be obeyed, not murdered
• Shakespeare uses the play as an example of how immoral actions lead to a guilty conscience


  Immoral behavior might lead to material success but there will be a consequence: a powerful and disruptive sense of guilt
• Shakespeare explores the morality of his two main characters through the results of their actions


  Their guilt identifies a lingering sense of humanity
• Macbeth's guilt over the murder of King Duncan and Banquo


  Results in him experiencing powerful and unsettling hallucinations
• Macbeth's inner conflict

  Occurs before he even murders Duncan
• In Shakespeare's time, it was believed in the Great Chain of Being, a hierarchy to the world where kings were the highest form of power on earth below God and the angels
• Guilt

  A feeling of remorse or sadness based on an action or behavior that has happened in the past, usually when a person has caused harm to someone or something or broken a certain moral code
• Macbeth expresses fear and guilt at his dark thoughts
• Lady Macbeth suppresses her guilt over bringing about the murder of Duncan


  But ends the play having lost her mind due to the terrible results of her actions
• Macbeth's doubt and guilt before murdering Duncan

  He recognizes the trust placed in him as both kinsmen and host, which holds him back from the murder
• Humans often experience guilt when they


  Lie, cheat, or harm others verbally or physically
• Sleep is a motif within the play which links to the theme of guilt
• Lady Macbeth admits "what's done cannot be undone"
• Macbeth's sense of fear and paranoia take over once he is crowned King
• Upon returning from Duncan's bed chamber

  Macbeth is undone by powerful feelings of guilt and shame over his actions
• Macbeth sees the blood as a stain upon his soul which cannot simply be washed off
• Lady Macbeth by act 3 is urging Macbeth to let go of his crimes
• Voice in Macbeth's head: '"Sleep no more"'
• Macbeth about the blood stains on his hands: '"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this Blood clean from my hand"'
• Macbeth's guilty conscience


  Holds him back from the murder
• Macbeth reasons that he would be breaking the great chain of being and committing an unforgivable crime
• Lady Macbeth about the murder of Duncan: '"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him"'
• Macbeth's order for Banquo to be murdered

  Comes back to haunt him as the bloody ghost of Banquo appears at his banquet
• Macbeth's cry to the ghost of Banquo: '"Thou not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me"'
• Macbeth goes through the murder


  Spurred on by the mockery of Lady Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to wash the blood from his hands


  And returns the bloody daggers to smear Duncan's guards with the king's blood
• Macbeth's mental state quickly unravels following Duncan's murder
• Shakespeare emphasizes that guilt is permanent and destructive
• Lady Macbeth is found sleepwalking and rambling guilty thoughts about the murders that have taken place
• Macbeth's crime results in a constant sense of unease and guilt until his death
• Lady Macbeth's character fades into the background in the second half of the play