Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's Actions and Guilt

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s action resulted in a lot of guilt. Guilt can mean two different things. It can either mean your responsibility for a crime or your state of mind after committing one (Nelson, Cassandra). Their conscience did not kick in at the same time but they both suffered from it. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were hurt physically and mentally by their guilt. Macbeth suffered right after committing a crime, while Lady Macbeth’s guilt was delayed. Their guilt was also brought out by their conscience. It made them believe they saw stuff and heard things that were not there.
Macbeth was the first to suffer from his guilt. This all began because he became power hungry. His lust for power started right after the witches’ predictions. Lust defined is “the urge to possess something that in the experience inevitably proves mere loss.” This resulted in his evilness. An example of his evil nature is when he learned the news of his wife. He showed no emotion saying “she should have died hereafter”, meaning she would have died sometime. Being evil drew out necessary consequences such as guilt (Knights, L.C.). These consequences began after he killed King Duncan. Macbeth begins to hear voices, have hallucinations, and is unable to sleep. He believes he has heard a sound after committing the crime. Lady Macbeth responds by saying she heard an owl scream and crickets cry. Macbeth still believes someone is in the second chamber (Stroll, Abraham). Macbeth feels as if he is a totally different person, after what he has done (Nelson, Cassandra). After the assassination of Banquo, Macbeth begins to feel even guiltier. He describes his guilt as “a stain that he cannot wash off, for it would sooner color the whole world than fade from his skin.” He feels as if his guilt has caged him in. This leads him to “seeing” Banquo’s ghost at the banquet. He goes crazy standing up and shouting at the ghost. This leads everyone to believe he is deteriorating by guilt (Nelson,