Theme Of Guilt In Macbeth

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, guilt is defined as, “a bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that one has done something wrong or bad”. Everyone has felt guilt about something about in his/her life. In Macbeth, Macbeth feels guilt over killing Duncan, the king, for his own personal gain to become king. Macbeth’s guilt develops into three main levels. The first being overall guilt and feeling bad, then progressing into madness and delusions, and finally into feeling not much at all for what he has done over the course of the play. Macbeth first feels guilt after feeling Duncan, like any human being would feel after killing another human being. After the murder Macbeth finds Lady Macbeth in the hallway and confesses his fears
The only thing he had to worry about was Macduff and his family, so he sends for them to all be murdered, of course, the only difference between this time and all the other times is that Macbeth feels nothing after they are killed. He sees no ghost and he hears no voices telling him to, “Sleep no more!” (II.ii.34-35), he feels nothing by this point in the play. His wife dies and all he has to say is, “She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word” (V.v.17-18). His arrogance begins to show as he fights Young Siward. Macbeth was given the apparition that only a person not born of a woman can kill him, and everyone is born of a woman, so he has nothing to worry about. Whenever Macbeth slaughters Young Siward states, “Thou wast born of woman. But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandish by man that’s of a woman born” (V.vii.12-14), with no guilt whatsoever. Macbeth’s lack of guilt and excess of arrogance does eventually cost him his life. Macduff, whose family fell as victims of one of Macbeth’s guilt free murders, enters Dunsinane and finds Macbeth. Ultimately, Macduff kills Macbeth avenging every death Macbeth is responsible