preview

Role Of Guilt In Macbeth

Better Essays

Focus Question: How do characters in the texts attempt to repress their guilt, and to what extent are they successful?

Guilt is an emotion that we are all familiar with. It occurs when we act against our conscience, and violate our moral code, which as humans, we often do. The degree of our guilt depends on how significantly we view our misdeed. A psychotherapist, Maud Purcell, describes the more severe cases of guilt as “the greatest destroyer of emotional energy” and says that staying consumed with guilt will “keep you from moving forward in a positive and productive way.” Hence properly dealing with guilt is crucial, which would explain why it is explored in many texts, including: Macbeth by William Shakespeare, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar …show more content…

Set in the 11th century Scotland, killing her king would have been the greatest crime Lady Macbeth could commit in her community. However, blinded by ambition, she chooses to ignore her conscience, seeking spirits to “stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose.” Lady Macbeth wants to be inhumane, as she wants to feel and show neither remorse nor compassion –the emotions that are part of being human. Lady Macbeth’s refusal to acknowledge her conscience may explain why at the start, we as readers cannot identify any traces of her guilt. For example, immediately after the regicide, unlike the guilt-ridden Macbeth, Lady Macbeth declares that “a little water clears us of this deed”. We can infer that she believes her sin is so insignificant that mere water can wash it away; implying that there is no reason to feel guilty. Likewise, the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart at first also tries to ignore his conscience and hence his guilt. We know this because Poe initially positions us to see the narrator as a psychopath, someone who feels no empathy nor remorse, as the narrator murders an old man whom he “loved” and who had “never wronged [him]”. Unlike Lady Macbeth, “object there was none” –the sole reason for his controlled and calculative murder was because of the old man’s “vulture eye” which made the narrator’s “blood [run] cold” and “chilled the very marrow of [his] bones.” After the successful murder and the cunning concealment of the body, the narrator “smiled gaily” as “[the old man’s] eye would trouble him no more.” He is so cunning and has full control of his emotions that he even “satisfied” and “convinced” the police officers. Poe compels us to question the humanity of the narrator, as he seems emotionless and ruthless. Both characters’ denial of guilt seems to be successful at first. However, as the stories progress, it is clear

Get Access