Guilt, Innocence and Paranoia

• Though it is the Macbeths' unchecked, amoral ambition that causes their fall from grace, it is their guilt and paranoia that breaks them
• Without guilt, they wouldn't be driven insane by their deeds. Without paranoia, their murder spree might have begun and ended with Duncan's death
• Shakespeare is clearly condemning regicide by illustrating how violently and deeply guilt destroyed the Macbeths
• Jacobean Britain was a very religious, Christian country


  People believed God was all-seeing, so would see every sin and crime someone committed. No one was exempt from His judgement
• Shakespeare supports the idea of God's all-seeing judgement by showing how the Macbeths are put through a sort of hell, despite their crime not being known by anyone else
• The Renaissance was a period when people believed in the innate (natural) goodness of humanity


  The Macbeths are destroyed by their own guilt, suggesting their innate goodness rebelled against their deliberate immorality
• The Macbeths pursue a facade of innocence while plotting their murders, and as they descend further into their web of violence, they long to regain their lost innocence
• Malcolm, a posterboy of youthful innocence and virtue, is the rightful king of Scotland, showing how goodness is the correct way to be given power
• Macbeth's guilt is focused on the murder, as he expresses his greatest remorse directly before and after he kills Duncan


  After that, his guilt comes in the form of paranoia, and this sends him on a frenzied murder spree
• Shakespeare suggests guilt and conscience are more powerful than ambition
• Macbeth: '"We'd jump the life to come," (1.7)'
• Macbeth knows committing murder will sacrifice his life in Heaven, making him fully mortal and abandoned by God
• Macbeth: '"But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? / I had most need of blessing and 'Amen' / Stuck in my throat," (2.2)'
• Macbeth is deeply distressed and upset because he has been denied God's forgiveness, so knows he is damned
• Macbeth: '"To know my deed, 'twere best not know my self," (2.2)'
• Macbeth would rather be unconscious or forget who he is than look at what he's done
• Ross: '"Alas, poor country, / Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot / Be called our mother, but our grave," (4.3)'
• Shakespeare shows how Macbeth's guilt has clouded the country in uncertainty and weakness
• Macbeth: '"For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; / For them, the gracious Duncan have I murdered, / Put rancours in the vessel of my peace / Only for them," (3.1)'
• Shakespeare shows that Macbeth's ambition is punished, not rewarded
• Macbeth: '"O, full of scorpions is my mind," (3.2)'
• Lady Macbeth is initially free from any feelings of guilt
• Whereas Macbeth's guilt makes him more violent and brutal, Lady Macbeth's guilt makes her go into herself
• Guilt and regret are presented as obstacles to following ambition


  These two feelings are linked to femininity and thus Lady Macbeth tries to rid herself of her conscience
• Lady Macbeth: '"Stop up th'access and passage to remorse / That no compunctious visitings of nature / Shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between / Th'effect and it," (1.5)'
• The only way to overcome guilt is to not feel it, as Shakespeare implies guilt is too powerful to ignore
• Lady Macbeth: '"Nought's had, all's spent / Where our desire is got without content. / 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy / Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy," (3.2)'
• Lady Macbeth is becoming aware of the infinite cycle of violence they have got themselves into to satisfy their paranoia
• Lady Macbeth: '"What's done, is done," (3.2)'
• Lady Macbeth: '"What's done cannot be undone," (5.1)'
• The change from "is done" to "cannot be undone" gives the impression that her guilt and desperation have increased
• Lady Macbeth: '"Go get some water / And wash this filthy witness from your hand," (2.2)'
• Lady Macbeth: '"A little water clears us of this deed," (2.2)'
• Lady Macbeth isn't focused on what the murder says about them or the mental impact it will have, only the implications of if they get caught with blood on their hands
• Blood as a motif


  Used throughout the play to show how the Macbeths react to their guilt. They both react differently to the blood which reveals to the audience how differently their minds work.
• Lady Macbeth's view of blood


  Believes the simple act of washing their hands will rid them of both the physical blood and the mental guilt of their deed. She orders Macbeth to "Go get some water / And wash this filthy witness from your hand" and "A little water clears us of this deed". Water is a symbol of purity and life. She isn't focused on what the murder says about them or the mental impact it will have, only the implications of if they get caught with blood on their hands. She can't confront the reality of her actions and only refers to blood with euphemisms like "filthy witness" and "deed".
• Macbeth's view of blood

  Shocked by the blood on his hands, asking "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red". He knows their guilt goes beyond the literal "blood" on their "hand[s]", and that nothing can remove the metaphorical "blood" on their souls. The reference to "Neptune", a non-Christian god, could reflect how he has turned his back on God.
• Macbeth's hallucinations


  • Faced with the reality of his guilt in the form of blood-soaked hallucinations. A dagger dripping with blood leads the way to Duncan's sleeping form, a premonition of the violence and guilt to come, while Banquo's ghost points his bloodied finger at Macbeth in an accusation of responsibility. Macbeth cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined, suggesting his guilt has already taken hold. The "heat-oppressed brain" refers to the pressure guilt places on him, portraying guilt as a disease.
• Lady Macbeth's reaction to Macbeth's hallucinations

  At first dismissive of Macbeth's hallucinations, telling him "'Tis the eye of childhood / That fears a painted devil" and his "flaws and starts" are merely "impostors to true fear". In her final scene however, she is tormented by her own visions, crying "Out, damned spot!" as she tries to wash an invisible spot of blood, showing her own guilt that cannot be unlearned.
• Sleep


  Symbol of innocence and peace, bringing comfort and an escape from the troubles of the real world. Sleep is denied to the Macbeths after they murder Duncan, and their nights are plagued by nightmares and "restless ecstasy", suggesting they relive their crimes every time they close their eyes. Macbeth shall sleep no more, so he has brought torment and torture on himself. Sleep cannot be enjoyed by a murderer bathed in blood, as Macbeth is.