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‘Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's downfalls are brought about by the guilt they feel’
(using act 2 scene 2 extract)

In Macbeth guilt is central to the novel as it disrupts the attitude of the audience towards Macbeth as he experiences a moral dilemma. The guilt progresses throughout the play and seems to consume both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth however their downfalls could arguably be their ambition and greed that is their hamartia rather than their guilt - a positive reaction.

The extract begins with Macbeth's wariness ‘Whence is that knocking?’ which emphasizes how he is so afraid to be caught and hiding away from something therefore implying that he is not in despair because of his actions but the idea that the punishment of his sins, murder and greed ,could murder him by the means of insanity which foreshadows the cause of Lady Macbeth demise. Contrastingly he says ‘Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?’ which demonstrates desperation and regret through the hyperbole. The absolute quality of ‘all’ provides the audience with pity for him because of the sense of hopelessness. It exaggerates how much water he would need suggesting that the blood will always be on his hands and never washed away. ‘All’ is synonymous with eternity, creating the image that he will always be washing his hands to get rid of the metaphorical stain the blood has caused on his hands. This again foreshadows Lady Macbeth where her metaphorical stain inaugurates her sense of being and life whereas Macbeth's innate response of despair is rewarded with moral amnesia to not develop his sense of right and wrong. As ‘all’ is hyperbolic it relates to inability to wash it away, it's unnatural and impossible, therefore this feeling of guilt is completely unnatural therefore implying that ‘unnatural deeds breed unnatural problems’. The abnormality of this guilt would be justified by the Jacobean audience in the sense of the divine right of kings and how the gravity of this sin was now unbearable to the extent that all the oceans could not wash away the sins of Macbeth. Therefore their guilt is a byproduct of their gluttonous actions and that was what brought about their downfall and Macbeth would be described a tragic hero according to Aristotle's theory where a flaw in judgement lead to his inevitable downfall

Potentially through the hyperbolic metaphor ‘full of scorpions’ it could be argued that Macbeth's downfall was by his guilt because it was inhibiting his ability to rationalize causing his moral amnesia. The writer's choice of the adjective ‘full’ was a clear inclination that Shakespeare wanted to portray that Macbeth was being obsessively tormented by the regicide of a king and disrupting a religious order. It also can show the extent of its abnormality because of its absoluteness. The theme of the supernatural is relevant to Macbeth's guilt because of how the witches goaded and manipulated him into regicide and left him with this perpetual guilt perhaps suggesting that his downfall was due to naivety or manipulation from external sources. ‘Scorpions’ are generally associated with the devil because they are poisonous and how their venom corrupts a person's body. Furthermore the venom is symbolic of the witches' speech and their words are now in Macbeth's head eating away at any humanity in him. Alternatively ‘full of scorpions could be foreshadowing the death and ominous nature of the succeeding scenes in the play. Therefore guilt is a clear predisposition to his downfall because of how it disregarded any sense of humanity in him because of the mental trauma he suffered from regicide.

Overall throughout the play Macbeth could described a tragic hero according to Aristotle's theory where a flaw in judgement lead to his inevitable downfall which would be his gluttonous nature however it could also be argued that guilt is the reason for his downfall because it consumed to the extent of moral amnesia. Guilt is demonstrated by its effect on Macbeth.