Guilt in Macbeth by William Shakespeare Essay Example

Guilt is a powerful feeling that can take control of your actions. In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, it shows how powerful guilt is. The main character Macbeth went through a lot of emotions after killing Duncan which led him to feel guilty. The guilt he feels when he killed Duncan is making him not be able to sleep. Then after killing Duncan, he was afraid of the sight of blood on his hands. And finally, when the murders killed his friend he started to hallucinate. The nights after the murder of Duncan Macbeth started to feel all of the guilt he had made. 

The night Macbeth killed Duncan, he started to hear a crying voice. This voice talked about how Macbeth had murdered the innocent sleep.  Macbeth “heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep” (Macbeth 2.2.115-116). This is referring to how Macbeth will no longer sleep. Though the crying voice did not just stop there. The voice “Still cried “sleep no more!” to all the house: “Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore cawdor shall sleep no more”(Macbeth2.2.122-124). This voice explains how Macbeth will never be able to sleep peacefully ever again. Knowing someone could kill him in his sleep too, just as Macbeth did to Duncan.  Macbeth mentions “Ere we will eat our meal in fear, ans sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly” (Macbeth 3.2.20-22). As Macbeth will now have to worry about the fact that someone could easily kill him. Worrying that someone could poison his food. Or the fact someone can sneak into his house and kill Macbeth when he is sleeping peacefully. As all these thoughts start causing Macbeth to get nightmares and not being about to sleep. However, it is not just the nightmares and the guilt he feels keeping Macbeth up at night but also the blood that covered his hands. 

The blood that covered Macbeth's hands should not be much of a problem because he is a brave and strong warrior. However, as it turns out, it becomes a problem that Duncan's blood was on Macbeth's hands. Macbeth did not even recognize his own hands, for example when he said “What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes”(Macbeth 2.2.143). Macbeth was in shock so much that he did not even recognize his own hands anymore as they were painful for him to look at. Macbeth felt so much guilt that he said “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand” (Macbeth 2.2.144-145). He is referring to how there is not enough water to wash all of the blood off of his hand, and saying how his “hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Macbeth 2.2.145 147).  In other words, Macbeth's bloody hands are going to turn the green seawater red due to the amount of blood on them. 

In other words when Macbeth sent the murders to kill his best friend and they came back telling Macbeth that the deed was done. Was the same night Macbeth felt guilty of this incident. Then started to see a hallucination of a ghost of his best friend. Macbeth was the only one that could see this ghost even when he tried to tell the other people about it. Macbeth started to look crazy when he said “Prithee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo! How say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too” (Macbeth 3.4.79-80). As Macbeth yelled at the other people to see if they could also see this ghost. This kept going on with Macbeth yelling at thin air telling the ghost to leave. Macbeth yelled for it to “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee. Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold”(Macbeth 3..4.108-109). But the ghost had yet to disappear, and due to that Macbeth continued to yell at this ghost. He yelled “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence”(Macbeth 3.4.122-123). Macbeth calls and yells at this horrible shadow only he could see. It is only the guilt that is hunting his dreams and what his eyes see. 

As all of the guilt slowly piles up inside of him making Macbeth seem like he is crazy. This guilt hunts his dreams making them nightmares, and he can not sleep due to the nightmares he slowly starts to see things that are not there.  The guilt he feels when he killed Duncan is making him not be able to sleep. Then after he killed Duncan he felt fear of the amount of blood on his hands.  And finialy when the murders killed his friend he started to hallucinate.  All because of the guilt he feels after Macbeth killed those people.