Tuesday, August 26, 2014

What is Lady Macbeth guilty of in act 5, in addition to Ducan's murder?

Lady Macbeth is considered more guilty than Macbeth by some who read this text, being the first to admit that "My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white," since she knows she is just as culpable as Macbeth for having pushed and cajoled him into performing the act of murder (Act II, Scene 2, line 729).
She confesses in Scene V to being the catalyst behind Banquo's murder in addition to King Duncan's. Her husband has taken her plans and run with them, murdering many to secure his throne, including the Macduff children. Though he is frightened and wringing his hands immediately after Duncan's murder, Macbeth shows no such compunction afterwards as he continues his grasp for power. Lady Macbeth's conscience waxes as Macbeth's wanes.


In act 5 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's final scene is the famous sleepwalking scene, where she frets about her guilt over her various crimes as she wanders through the castle, overheard by a servant and her doctor. In her sleep, she confesses to killing the king, but she also mentions the killing of Banquo, assuring herself that he is dead and cannot come back to threaten the Macbeths' power. She did not literally kill either of those men of course, since her husband and hired killers performed those deeds respectively. But she planned the first murder and was complicit in the second.
Lady Macbeth's nightmares are steeped in blood which she cannot wash off. She never truly repents for her deeds and therefore never feels absolved of her guilt.

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