Guilt in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay -- Macbeth essays

Guilt in Macbeth There is a large burden of unrighteousness carried by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in Shakespeares tragedy Macbeth. Lets font at this situation closely in the following essay. Fanny Kemble in Lady Macbeth asserts that Lady Macbeth was unconscious of her guilt, which nevertheless killed her A very able article, promulgated some years ago in the National Review, on the character of Lady Macbeth, insists much upon an opinion that she died of remorse, as some palliation of her crimes, and mitigation of our evil of them. That she died of wickedness would be, I think, a juster verdict. Remorse is consciousness of guilt . . . and that I think Lady Macbeth never had though the unrecognized pressure of her great guilt killed her. (116-17) In Memoranda Remarks on the Character of Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons mentions the guilt and ambition of Lady Macbeth and their effect Re I have given suck (1.7.54ff.) Even here, direful as she is, she shews herself made by ambition, bu t not by nature, a perfectly savage creature. The very use of such a tender allusion in the midst of her dreadful language, persuades one unequivocally that she has really felt the maternal yearnings of a mother towards her babe, and that she considered this action the most enormous that ever required the power of human nerves for its perpetration. Her language to Macbeth is the most potently eloquent that guilt could use. (56) Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare explain how guilt impacts Lady Macbeth Having prolong her weaker husband, her own strength gives way and in sleep, when her will cannot control her thoughts, she is p... ... Frye, Northrop. Fools of Time Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy. Toronto, Canada University of Toronto Press, 1967. Kemble, Fanny. Lady Macbeth. Macmillans Magazine, 17 (February 1868), p. 354-61. Rpt. in Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900. Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts, eds. Manchester, UK Manches ter University Press, 1997. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. http//chemicool.com/Shakespeare/macbeth/full.html, no lin. Siddons, Sarah. Memoranda Remarks on the Character of Lady Macbeth. The Life of Mrs. Siddons. Thomas Campbell. London Effingham Wilson, 1834. Rpt. in Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900. Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts, eds. Manchester, UK Manchester University Press, 1997. Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Toronto, Canada University of Toronto Press, 1957.