Examples Of Guilt In Macbeth

Prompt 4: Guilt in each book shows a character's true colors and impacts the plot and character arc of each character. The scene that causes Macbeth to feel guilty is when Duncan (The King) comes to their village. Previously the witches had told Macbeth that he would be King, which he then told Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth hears this news and is ambitious to have Macbeth seize the throne as soon as possible. Lady Macbeth devises a plan to murder Ducan, which Macbeth isn’t so excited to hear at first. But later on, he is convinced to do so. Before killing Duncan Macbeth is already feeling guilty, “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat oppressed brain.” The heat-oppressed mind that is mentioned is him feeling worried about what is
Ha they pluck out mine eyes, with all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Page 59). Immediate guilt washed over Macbeth, causing him to cry out. At first, Macbeth tries to rationalize his actions and suppress his guilt. But doing so makes him extremely paranoid and makes him resort to insane acts of violence and self-destructive behavior. As this continues, he becomes tortured by hallucinations of Banquo and others that fell victim to his sinful acts. Others too get involved, such as Lady Macbeth, when she notices him going crazy because he is seeing Banquo’s ghost. “I pray you, speak not. He grows worse and worse. Question engrages him” (Page 107) When Dorian decides one day to reveal the portrait he notices the portrait's altered state. Looking at the portrait, Dorian notices that it has been infected with “lines of cruelty” (Page 144). He had just come from the show that Sibyl Vane had performed in, where he told her that he no longer loves her because of the awful performance she put on. Noticing the cruelty in the painting and what he had previously done, he starts to grow more aware of the consequences of his