In general

• Shakespeare associates guilt with religion. While wondering if he should really kill Duncan, Macbeth acknowledges,


  "We'd jump the life to come," (1.7).
• "We'd jump the life to come,"(1.7)


  This is a reference to the afterlife, which Christians believed would be granted to those who honoured God.

  • metaphor
  • It suggest the “trammel” to catch his prey, but also the religious imagery is jumping the heaven  but also it could be suggested that he would jump his ambition and become a meek subject.
• "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.

  • The threat of this is enough to make Macbeth reconsider his plan, showing the power religion and belief had over people at the time.
  • Shakespeare suggests Macbeth should have listened to his conscience and faith rather than to his wife.

  Shakespeare shows the moral and religious consequences of being guilty.
• "But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? / I had most need of blessing and 'Amen' / Stuck in my throat," (2.2).


  He is deeply distressed and upset by this experience. It seems Macbeth is scared because he has been denied God's forgiveness, so knows he is damned.
• "I had most need of blessing"

  • Personal Pronoun: The use of "I" makes the statement deeply personal, underscoring Macbeth's individual struggle and vulnerability. consequences, both earthly and divine, highlighting his fear and uncertainty about the future.
  • The quote reflects Macbeth's realization of his own moral corruption and the dire need for divine intervention to assuage his guilt, protect him from retribution, and perhaps even offer him a path to redemption.
  • It also speaks to Macbeth's awareness of his vulnerability in the face of potential
• "stuck in my throat"


  • metaphor
  • it evokes the image of a barrier blocking Macbeth from God
• Guilt is presented as an intense fear of knowing yourself and facing what you have done. After killing Duncan, he claims,

  "To know my deed, 'twere best not know my self," (2.2).


  The perception of himself as an honourable hero has died along with Duncan.

  He would rather be unconscious or forget who he is than look at what he's done.
• Macbeth: 'Alas, poor country, / Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot / Be called our mother, but our grave,'
• Macbeth's regret echoed later in the play
• Shakespeare shows how Macbeth's guilt has clouded the country in uncertainty and weakness
• Scotland is "almost afraid to know itself" because it cannot face what it has become
• The king (Macbeth)


  Identical to his country