Essay and feedback

Shakespeare uses guilt to drive the tragic downfall of Macbeth, a noble Scottish warrior who is corrupted by his drive to the throne and then the guilt he experiences after. The play reflects contemporary anxieties about kingship, betrayal and the supernatural, particularly after the gunpowder plot. Shakespeare reveals [originally showing] the chaotic consequences of moral corruption, as guilt is caused by sin.

After Macbeth kills Duncan, Shakespeare presents his guilt as unstoppable [originally long-lasting] and controlling. Macbeth asks if “is this a dagger I see before me?”, the use of a rhetoric question reveals Macbeth’s immediate anxiety and jumpiness caused by his guilt of committing regicide, which was a huge sin in Jacobean England due to the belief in the ‘divine right to rule’. It also conveys a sense that guilt is now in control of Macbeth’s senses. By doing this Shakespeare reveals how guilt comes from within and cannot be prevented from the outside—showing the delusion that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth possess: “Do not let light see my black and deep desires”, was their earlier belief, as if guilt can be kept out. The juxtaposition used by Shakespeare, however, of “light” and “black” shows the conflict that exists inside Macbeth revealing how moral corruption begins when guilt is attempted to be prevented. Shakespeare is therefore suggesting that guilt corrupts a person from the inside and is to be expected after a great sin.

Following on from this, Shakespeare then reveals the inescapable and long-lasting nature of guilt. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience blood that cannot be washed off their hands. This immediately makes a contemporary and modern audience think of Pontius Pilate; Shakespeare highlights how Macbeth will not be favoured in the afterlife, showing the inescapable fate that guilt causes, even after death. Shakespeare also uses a motif of “blood” and contrasts it with “water” to show the indelible nature of guilt, revealing how guilt stains your mind, body and soul, like a branded animal. Ultimately, Shakespeare shows how guilt cannot be escaped and can take control of your actions, like an animal heading for slaughter, foreshadowing the fate that guilt causes.

Shakespeare then extends this animalistic metaphor as guilt turns into paranoia which causes violence. Macbeth kills Duncan for personal gain, however his guilt drives him to kill Macduff’s innocent family due to paranoia. They are described as “chickens”, by using zoomorphism Shakespeare reduces Macbeth to just a ‘predator’ rather than a careful killer. This mental deterioration shows how guilt can cause great chaos from within a person's mind. This is reinforced by Lady Macbeth saying “Out damned spot”, the religious imagery creates an effect that her mind is cursed just like Macbeth. However, their mental corruption is manifested in different ways. Macbeth becomes violent and beast-like, but Lady Macbeth becomes a “dearest chuck”. Shakespeare reveals how guilt causes people to become reliant on innate instincts, which at the time would have had the woman as the helpless baby animal and the male as the beast. Especially as it is Macbeth who calls her “chuck”. Shakespeare is showing how guilt corrupts the mind and reduces it to just what it was born with—instincts.

Ultimately, Shakespeare uses guilt to reveal its inescapable nature and how it causes deterioration that begins in the mind causing total loss of the thing that separated us from animals as believed to be in Jacobean England—logic. This makes a person act violently and impulsively as Shakespeare is trying to tell his audience that guilt is caused by an act against nature itself and you will be punished for it.