guilt

• "I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er" A3S4 Macbeth


  -Metaphorical imagery

  -Macbeth accepts his damnation and recognises that he may as well continue wading through the river of blood because he cant get any more bloody but to "wade no more" would be " tedious"
• "keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, / When mine is blanched (whitened) with fear" A3S4 Macbeth


  -A specific parallel with the murder scene.

  -Here, the words "ruby" and "blanched" clearly recall the distinction that Lady Macbeth made between the "red" hands of murder and the "white" heart of a coward
• "Out, damned spot; out, I say" A5S1 Lady Macbeth


  -Obsessive washing of her hands relates to and contrasts "A little water clears us of this deed". Hypocrisy

  -The anaphora "Out" displays how haunted she is. Washed away the blood but can't wash away the psychological stain on her conscience.

  -Also, her need to "have light by her continually" displays her fear of the silent dark which forces her to face her "infected mind"
• "all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand," A5S1 Lady Macbeth


  -Olfactory hyperbolic image

  -Echoes "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?". Presents Lady Macbeth's hypocrisy as under her facade of "undaunted mettle", she feels just as guilty.
• "What's done cannot be undone" A5S1 Lady Macbeth


  Lady Macbeth's hidden inner turmoil and hypocrisy conveyed in the juxtaposition to her earlier argument to her husband "what's done is done"
• "Hell is murky," A5S1 Lady Macbeth


  Pained declaration displays her realisation of the threat of damnation - she sleeps but her soul restlessly awaits eternal torment.
• "To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus" A3S1 Macbeth


  Repetition highlights inner turmoil and paranoia.
• "heat oppressed brain" A2S1 Macbeth


  -Diseased imagery. Questions his physical and mental state.

  -Macbeth's distrust and doubt in himself emphasises his descent into madness and moral ambiguity.
• "A dagger of the mind, a false creation" A2S1 Macbeth


  Caesura displays recognition of his own insanity. Emphasises delusion in his trauma-induced hallucination.
• "Thou canst not say I did it: never shake / Thy gory locks at me." A3S4 Macbeth


  -Equivocatory denial

  -Highlights Macbeth's guilt-ridden conscience and equivocative nature as his first impulse is to deny the truth of his heinous acts of treachery.

  -Banquo's "gory locks" are a visual symbol of Macbeth's guilt towards all of the bloodshed and chaos he is responsible for.
• If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well/ It were done quickly'. A1S7 Macbeth


  Uncertainty implied by fragmented, hypothetical language creates sense that Macbeth is questioning his decision to commit regicide, with the plosive repetition of "done" further emphasising the cruelty and moral horror of such an act.
• "I could not say 'Amen,' when they did say 'God bless us'" A2S2 Macbeth

  Macbeth's sin has strayed him away from God.
• "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep" A2S2 Macbeth

  Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth about the voice he heard when he killed the king Sleep symbolically represents peace

  -Macbeth by killing the sleeping King Duncan has metaphorically murdered his own peace of mind

  -he fears that he will never be able to sleep again because only the innocent can rest peacefully
• "Is this a dagger which I see before me"


  Macbeth hallucinates seeing a dagger in front of him on his way to kill Duncan. This reflects the guilt he is already feeling.
• "Every noise appals me"

  After Macbeth has murdered Duncan, he becomes paranoid about it. He begins to be startled by noises.
• "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!"


  Macbeth thinks he hears someone say this. This shows that after killing Duncan, Macbeth is feeling paranoid and guilty as he fears he will never sleep again.
• "Out damned spot!"


  Lady Macbeth hallucinates blood on her hands before she dies. This corresponds with when Macbeth hallucinates a dagger. Both show how the murder of Duncan has made them guilty and insane from paranoia.
• "Doubtful joy" and "Restless ecstasy"

  Oxymorons to show Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's mixed emotions. They got what they wanted but they also feel guilt and uneasy.
• "Faces vizards to our hearts"

  (The Murder of Banquo)

  Multiple suggestions:

  1) He may want to protect Lady Macbeth from more guilt

  2)...Or because he's driven by his own ambition that her opinion doesn't matter anymore.
• "Scorpions in my mind" and "The bat has flown"

  Animal imagery.

  Sets an unsettling tone as these animals remind the audience of evil and emphasise Macbeth's feelings of insecurity and paranoia.
• "Come, come, come, come"


  Lady Macbeth goes mad with guilt at the end of the play. This quote shows she's lost all self control and struggles with a guilt conscience. This is in contrast with the beginning of the play where she speaks to confidently about the murder of King Duncan.
• "Out, damned spot!"


  Lady Macbeth is washing her hands in the hope that she can wash away her feelings of guilt like she did wash away the blood after Duncan's death.

  Guilt and Isolation affect Lady Macbeth so greatly that she cannot live with what she's done and kills herself.
• Glamis hath murder'd sleep and therefore Cawdor /Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more' A2S2 Macbeth


  -Epimone (repetition of a point)

  -Fragmentation of personality portrays his descent into madness.

  -By murdering sleep, Macbeth has murdered his own internal peace and mental tranquility as we see in the rest of the play

  -his paranoia and inner turmoil rule his mind.