Guilt and Responsibility Feb. 2013 | Page 2

Quotations Galore

“Stars, hide your fires!

Let not light see my black and deep desires.”

-1.4

“I am in blood

Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o'er.”

-3.4

“I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not.”

- 2. 2

“Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I had done't.”

-2.2

Here, Macbeth is feelingguilty about his desire to kill Duncan and wants no one, even the stars, to know about how he feels or what he plans to do. He does not even want the stars to shed light on his intentions.

An analysis on how guilt and conscience is revealed in Macbeth

Because his paranoia and ambition has overtaken him, he feels that he gone so far that he cannot turn back and undo the crimes he has commited.

As Macbeth returns from murdering King Duncan, Lady Macbeth criticizes him for bringing back the bloody daggers. She thinks that placing the murder weapons on Duncan's men and smearing them with his blood will incriminate them for Duncan's murder. Here Macbeth says that he will not go back and see what he has done to his previous king. He is feeling remorseful and will not return to face the crime he has commited.

Lady Macbeth shows that she does have a limit when it comes to the length she will go to ceize power. Her humanity is still present and she would have felt guilty if she was Duncan's killer.