This essay I had written at the beginning of Year 11, on the subject of how is guilt portrayed in ‘Macbeth’. I received a Grade 8 for this piece of writing.

In ‘Macbeth’ Shakespeare explores many underlying themes that play a big role in creating the characters of the play. These include the themes of betrayal and loyalty to revenge and power, but most importantly the theme of guilt is predominantly present throughout the whole play. Some may believe that guilt is only presented through the subconscious (or the lack thereof), as we do not see any of the characters actively say that they are guilty.

Starting with the extract from Act 5 scene 1, we are immediately subjected to this theme of guilt that is presented to us through Lady Macbeth. Here, we can clearly see that Lady Macbeth is having troubling dreams which have compelled her to start sleepwalking, however, we learn that this is, in fact, a regular occurrence when the gentlewoman says ‘it is an accustomed action of hers’ to the doctor, signifying that this behaviour has been repeated before. Somnambulism is a form of parasomnia, something that the doctor did not understand in the extract as he was ‘fascinated’ by this and had never seen anything like it. The fact that Lady Macbeth is ‘sleepless’ reminds the audience of the events right after the death of Duncan, where Macbeth spoke obsessively of murdering sleep. At this time Lady Macbeth had dismissed his thoughts as being ‘brain-sickly’. Dramatic irony is now present at this moment to the audience as it is Lady Macbeth who has become sick in the mind and is sleepless. Furthermore, on the topic of sleep, during the ‘Restoration Era’ (when this play was written) many people believed that dreams were an expression of guilt for something they had done, they also believed that these dreams came directly from God, angels or demons and that they exposed a person’s character as virtuous or wicked. This has clearly been induced into Shakespeare’s Macbeth and was specifically written to relate with the audience for that era. Additionally, in this extract the Doctor notices the obsessive rubbing of Lady Macbeth’s hands, trying to erase a ‘spot’, which her eyes cannot see as ‘their sense is shut’. As Lady Macbeth continues to desperately rub off the spot, she recalls events from the past. The sound of a bell, perhaps signifying the one in Act 2, after Duncan’s death. She also remembers the comments she made to Macbeth when planning Duncan’s murder, and other events that would supposedly cause most average beings to be overcome in remorse and guilt of the crimes committed. Lady Macbeth then remembers Lady Macduff’s murder in which she asks ‘where is she now?’. Some might say that this reflects her current state of mind: that it’s contradicting and confusing, which can also be portrayed in the fast-paced dialogue and varied sentence structures used by Shakespeare. These include how the majority of the play is written in blank verse, or more commonly known as iambic pentameter. Interestingly, this particular phrase is spoken in prose which accentuates her madness and presenting Lady Macbeth in a very weak and fragile manor something that was quite common during the ‘restoration era’. However, I see this particular question as a way of reminding the audience that she is still under the influence of the spirits that had ‘unsexed’ her previously in the plot. It is a way of Shakespeare telling us that even in our weakest times, evil will not have any remorse. Lady Macbeth, being the embodiment of evil, seems to have outbursts of guilt but in that one question, she becomes ruthless as if she is mocking the death of Lady Macduff, in my opinion, I view the question as rhetorical.  I find it ironic how Lady Macbeth had previously called on the spirits to ‘unsex’ her. The spirits would only change her behaviour, not her soul, which could portray a hidden metaphor for her subconscious self. This is due to the fact that sleep is most commonly associated with peace and rest, the fact that she keeps having reoccurring nightmares of the horrible deeds she has committed further proves that her guilt has overcome her. Sadly, what forces Lady Macbeth to call onto the spirits was the inevitable patriarchal society in which she was a part of. Lady Macbeth was portrayed as being weak and letting the spirits overcome her, as well as killing herself due to her being emotionally ‘weak’. Women in the restoration era were viewed as physically and mentally inferior to men. Hence, Shakespeare presented Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and confessing her evil deeds, and eventually, this drives her to insanity and sadly her death. Macbeth (being a male), does not confess his sins and therefore could not be viewed as weak to the Jacobean audience. Yet still, something that conforms to the nature of guilt is clearly evident in a few lines after the extract where she commentates on the smell of blood and how ‘all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten (her) little hand’. This has a religious underlying tone hidden in it. Pontius Pilate washed his hands, refusing to accept any part in the death of Jesus. This image of blood on the hands has always symbolised guilt in history. This would have been known to the audience, and since King James II was Catholic, he would have been particularly impressed by Shakespeare at the fact that this reference was made to please him. This imagery presented to us by Lady Macbeth is especially ironic in view of her comment to Macbeth in Act 2 Scene 2, where she states that ‘a little water clears us of this deed… how is it then!’. There was real blood on Macbeth’s hands that symbolised his guilt then, there’s an illusion of blood on her hands now, meaning that subconsciously she experiences guilt too.

The art of subconscious guilt is extremely prominent throughout this whole play. Shakespeare deliberately enforces this as another hidden sub-plot to the play, that is only noticed upon in-depth analysation. The very first time we are introduced with this concept is in Macbeth’s soliloquy in act 2 scene 1, where he appears to have a manifestation of a dagger on which he comments ‘is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand’. This is moments before Macbeth viciously murders Duncan, and already it conveys a remorseful atmosphere. It is interesting to note that Macbeth is so consumed by the guilt he faces that he is not able to comprehend whether or not this imagery is real. The ‘handle’ is pointing directly at him further reinforcing the fact that the murder of King Duncan is all his fault (in his mind). All of this occurs in Macbeth’s mind, whilst he is in a conscious state. This starkly contrasts with Lady Macbeth as her guilt is expressed in a sub-conscious manor. Furthermore, this guilt that Macbeth conveys subconsciously changes over the course of the play. In the first half of the play, Macbeth’s guilty conscious manifests itself through visions and voices which Macbeth finds difficult to cope with as he does not comprehend whether or not it is real. For example, when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost he assumes that everyone else can see it too. This manifestation of his troubled mind is another fragment of this guilt that he feels straight after Banquo’s murder scene. However, over the course of the play, we only see short outbursts of guilt portrayed in Macbeth, and they’re not through visions or voices. Instead, Macbeth’s use of equivocation and his facial expressions portray his true emotions and feelings of remorse. Macbeth realises this himself towards the end of the play in Act 5 scene 8, where he was ridiculed by Macduff, and called a ‘coward’ for using equivocation as a way to stop the guilt from showing. Many would see this as weak and indeed would agree with Macduff’s commentary about it being ‘cowardly’ but I tend to disagree with this. It takes a very large mental strength to be able to suppress these thoughts and feelings of guilt and remorse, for a very long period of time which was what Macbeth had done throughout this play.

Shakespeare is well known for employing sleep in most of his plays in one way or another. The ideology of sleep re-occurs throughout Macbeth, however, not with the same significance that it usually has. We commonly associate sleep with brining us peace and innocence, it could also commonly be associated with new-borns or a time when our state of mind is at renewal and rest. Nonetheless, in Macbeth sleep (or the lack of it) seems to represent all of the highlighted qualities too, the only issue is that the characters seem to experience none of it, which reinforces the power guilt has on the human mind, something that Shakespeare had evidently wanted to convey in his play, Macbeth. The representation of sleep occurs after Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, have just committed their evil deed of murdering Duncan. Dramatic irony pervades the scene as Macbeth has a sudden realisation of what he is capable of doing. We see this in Act 2 Scene 2, where Macbeth tells his wife that he thought ‘(he) heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more: Macbeth does murder sleep’’. Macbeth’s inner sub-conscious is highlighted here with the amount of guilt he is experiencing. Macbeth is overwhelmed with guilt and is experiencing more hallucinations and visions as a way of expressing his inner guilt. Macbeth believes he has murdered the ‘innocent sleep’, again reinforcing that Macbeth’s innocence is gone and there is only room for guilt now. It is also worthy to note that, innocence is the stark-opposite of guilt, to Macbeth guilt has won this battle of his contradicting mind. This could foreshadow not only Lady Macbeth’s self-destruction but also his own due to this sentiment of guilt.

Throughout Macbeth, William Shakespeare repeats the disputed idea of disguises behind words, faces and hallucinations. This is clearly evident in Act 1 Scene 5 when Lady Macbeth says ‘look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it’. The innocent flower refers to Macbeth and his wife, and how they appear to be like on the outside. The serpent, being a dangerous animal filled with poison symbolises their impure minds filled with the dangerous power of guilt. In psychology, it is proven, that the mind will release confidential information subconsciously, as an attempt to attract attention and receive help from others. This is depicted to us when Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and recalls her dreams and when Macbeth nearly confesses to his partaking in Duncan’s murder after seeing Banquo’s ghost. Eventually, the human mind reaches a point where it can no longer hold any secrets and would purposely sabotage itself in order to release that secret, that causes their pain and guilt. This is what pushes Lady Macbeth to her edge, and forces her to confess to the point where she’s so overcome with guilt that it physically and mentally ends her. Macbeth on the other hand nearly gives in to this temptation of guilt at the end of the play. This is evident in Act 5 scene 8, where Macbeth does not want to battle with Macduff as he feels too guilty about murdering his family, however, once Macbeth hears that Macduff calls him a ‘coward’, that all too familiar character of Macbeth comes out portraying him to be a warrior for one last time. It is as if Macbeth’s guilty conscious has turned itself off and he has become his ruthless self again. Unfortunately, Macbeth lets his guilt overcome him and sadly this marks the end of his character’s story in the play. This again proves my point about the guilty conscious taking over both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Hence, by using the art of sub-consciousness guilt, Shakespeare has evidently proven how guilt can affect the human mind and force us to break. This is evident to us in the extract when we are introduced to Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and having visions of blood-stained hands. Which conveys her guilt through her sub-consciously recalling her evil deeds from her past. This ideology is further reinforced by Macbeth when he confesses solemnly to ‘murdering sleep’, which causes his guilty conscious to be unveiled and is a prominent theme throughout the play. Ultimately this burden of guilt is what drives Lady Macbeth to insanity and causes her to sadly end her life. In the same way, Macbeth’s guilt is what also causes him to act recklessly and in-turn suffers by unfortunately dying too. Shakespeare’s message was simple, guilt cannot be suppressed, it is human nature and no matter how hard you try to hide it, it will find a way out in one way or another.

29/10/18