Guilt

The Theme in the Work

Guilt enters the play the very minute the crime ends. In scene 2 of Act II, Macbeth returns from the king's room saying he could not manage to say amen, that a voice announced he had murdered Sleep, and he asks whether the whole ocean could wash the blood from his hands. Lady Macbeth answers that a little water will clean them of this deed.

In scene 2 of Act III, already king, Macbeth admits that they have only wounded the serpent and that he would rather be with the dead than lie in the torment of his mind, and Lady Macbeth says nothing is gained when desire is satisfied without contentment. In scene 4 of Act III, guilt takes shape: Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost in his place, which the guests do not see, and Lady Macbeth tries to cover the scene and rebukes him for cowardice.

In scene 1 of Act V, the guilt she had pushed aside returns as a symptom: sleepwalking, she rubs her hands, speaks of blood, of Duncan, of Banquo, and of the wife of Macduff, and the Doctor concludes that her illness is of the spirit and not of the body.

Macbeth's guilt appears even before the crime happens. In scene 7 of Act I, alone, he acknowledges that he is Duncan's kinsman, subject, and host, that murder tends to return upon the one who commits it, and that only ambition pushes him. After the crime, in scene 2 of Act II, he says it would be better not to know who he is and refuses to return to the king's room, because he is afraid to think about what he has done. Lady Macbeth, for her part, admits that she did not kill the king only because he resembled her father as he slept, and warns that if the two think about these deeds in this way they will go mad.

In the last acts guilt changes form. In scene 3 of Act V, Macbeth asks the Doctor to tear out of the queen's memory the deep-rooted sorrow, and the Doctor replies that the patient must find her own remedy. In scene 5 of Act V, he confesses that he no longer feels fear, because he has gorged himself on horror, and in scene 7 of Act V he tells Macduff that he avoided fighting him because his soul is heavy with the blood of Macduff's family.

The play distributes guilt in two rhythms that cross. Macbeth feels it first, in scene 2 of Act II, and carries it into power in the form of nightmare and vision. Lady Macbeth refuses it in scene 2 of Act II and in scene 4 of Act III, and lives it in Act V, when sleep undoes the refusal. Her line on the night of the crime, a little water, and the one from the sleepwalking scene, these hands will never be clean, are the same guilt at different times.

Where It Appears

• Scene 2 of Act II: Macbeth returns from the king's room without having managed to say amen, says he heard a voice announce that he murdered Sleep, and asks whether the whole ocean could wash the blood from his hands.
• Scene 2 of Act III: Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that they have only wounded the serpent and that he no longer sleeps without nightmares, preferring to be with the dead than to lie in the torment of his mind.
• Scene 4 of Act III: Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost seated in his place, while the guests see nothing, and Lady Macbeth rebukes him for cowardice.
• Scene 1 of Act V: Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep with a candle, rubs her hands, and speaks of a stain, of blood, of Duncan, of Banquo, and of Macduff's wife before the Doctor.

Passages

The voice that condemns Macbeth to sleeplessness:

The ocean that will not wash:

The ghost only he sees:

The stain that will not leave: