The term guilt can be defined as “a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined” (Dictionary.com) One of Shakespeare’s famous Macbeth characters, Lady Macbeth, exhibits extreme remorse for the wrongdoings that occur throughout this play. In the last act of the play Lady Macbeth spirals into compunction leading to her alleged suicide.
Shakespeare is clever in his writing and foreshadows this remorse by implanting the idea that Lady Macbeth possesses the quality of guilt, by providing examples of how Macbeth himself deals with guilt, and lastly by focusing on the irony from the lack of empathy Lady Macbeth shows towards Macbeth. Ultimately, Lady Macbeth’s madness in act five of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is caused from her overwhelming guilt brought on by the heinous crimes committed during the play.
In act two of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth expands on her thoughts regarding the planned murder of King Duncan. She ultimately states that she forces her husband, Macbeth to commit the murder which she was unable to do herself because the King resembled her own father. This subtly foreshadows that Lady Macbeth is not solely the cold, manipulating, calculating murderess that she is portrayed to be and provides evidence that she obtains the quality of guilt. In stating, “Had he not resembled, my father as he slept, I had done’t” (Shakespeare, 2.2.12.)
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This quotation leaves Lady Macbeth’s character exposed, implying that although she is willing to do anything for a royal title, she would not be able to murder a loved one without feeling extreme remorse. This crucial moment in the play allows readers to see Lady Macbeth’s character in a new light, it is in this moment of sensitivity when one is able to understand that Lady Macbeth possesses the very key personality trait of guilt, which ultimately leads to her madness in act five.
After Macbeth kills Duncan he believes to hear a voice that proclaims he will be unable to sleep. This foreshadows the struggle that both Lady Macbeth and her husband have in act five when they suffer from sleepless nights due to the compunction they both carry from the murder. Insomnia is one of the actions that portray Lady Macbeth’s madness.
Humans require a sufficient amount of sleep and their bodies take a mental and physical toll when they start to lose sleep. After killing Duncan, Macbeth says “Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”-the innocent sleep” (Ibid 2.2.35.) Macbeth explains that he has trouble sleeping and he is hearing voices in his sleep, developing a form of insomnia due to his guilt.
This confirms that Macbeth is experiencing some form of remorse for his actions. Also, it is at this point in the play when Macbeth no longer confides in his wife, Lady Macbeth, as she is not understanding of the compunction he is feeling and she does not console him. She says to her husband “Consider it not so deeply” (Ibid, 2.2.39.) and “These deeds must not be thought” (Ibid, 2.2.43.)
Shakespeare indirectly foreshadows that remorse will cause sleepless nights for Lady Macbeth and he does so through Macbeth’s character. The nightmares Lady Macbeth experiences in act five are a large part of her insanity and Shakespeare hints at this in act two when his character, Lady Macbeth dismisses her husband’s feelings, which by the final act of the play become the same feelings Lady Macbeth’s experiences.
After Duncan is murdered Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth how easy it is to get rid of the blood on his hands when he begins to panic. This ironically foreshadows the struggle with guilt that Lady Macbeth endures in act five when she sleep walks and discusses how she cannot get rid of the blood she has on her own hands; “Out, damned spot! out, I say! One: two: why, then, ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky!” (Ibid, 5.1.32-33.)
The hallucinations along with her nightmares truly show how the heinous crimes committed throughout the play have affected her sanity. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Ibid, 2.2.61-62) and Lady Macbeth replies, “A little water clears us of this deed. How easy is it, then! Your constancy hath left you unattended.” (Ibid, 2.2.12-13.) Lady Macbeth primitively addresses the blood as a small, fixable issue but readers can see that the blood is symbolic of the crime committed, which is significant to the hallucinations Lady Macbeth has. Initially she feels that if washed away the crime will be forgotten.
This provides evidence that she primarily underestimates the psychological impact that murderer has. It is not just blood, it is someone’s blood. Shakespeare uses irony in act two to foreshadow the madness of Lady Macbeth, by reversing the situation. Instead of Macbeth with the blood on his hands he gives nightmares to Lady Macbeth. By exchanging who holds the blood on their hands in act five and shifting remorse from Macbeth to his wife, Shakespeare has shown how Macbeth’s guilt in act two foreshadows the madness of Lady Macbeth in act five of the play.
In conclusion, there are many instances in Shakespeare’s Macbeth which show that Lady Macbeth is a guilty individual. This compunction is the ultimate cause of the madness Lady Macbeth experiences in the final act of the play. Shakespeare presents this madness by Lady Macbeth’s apathetic feelings towards the murder, the lack of sleep and insomnia in both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth and by expressing to the reader that Lady Macbeth is indeed capable of being guilty.
Guilt is an emotion that many individuals carry, with an emotion that can be psychologically unbearable and it was no surprise that a heinous crime like murder came with too much guilt for Lady Macbeth to handle. The amount of remorse Lady Macbeth carried for the crimes in the play was the true cause of her insanity and was foreshadowed early on through Shakespeare’s creative writing.
