Guilt, Innocence and Paranoia - Macbeth

• Macbeth acknowledging that if he kills Duncan then he sacrifices life in Heaven

‘We’d jump the life to come,’

• Reveals Macbeth’s regret + his desperation in reclaiming his innocence

‘I had most need of blessing’

• Guilt is presented as an intense fear of not knowing yourself and facing what you have done

‘To know my deed, ‘twere best not to know my self,’

• Paranoia is portrayed as a poison that is relentless + inescapable

‘Put rancours in the vessel of my peace’

‘O, full of scorpions is my mind,’

• Lady Macbeth is capable of feeling guilt

‘Stop up th’access and passage to remorse…’

• Act 3 and then act 5

• Repetition mimics her insanity

‘What’s done, is done’

‘What’s done cannot be undone’

• Motif of blood highlights the difference in the ways the Macbeths react to their guilt

• LM - ‘A little water clears us of this deed’

• vs M’s - ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand’

• Macbeth’s hallucinations - Act 2

‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?’

• LM

• The invisibility of the blood spot reflects how guilt doesn’t have to be visible/known by others for it to be real, LM can no longer use this façade to save her

‘Out, damned spot!’