The last appearance of Lady Macbeth before she sleepwalks
onto the stage, in Act V, scene i, is the banquet scene and its aftermath, Act III,
scene iv. Lady Macbeth does accept the guilt for her part in the murder up to this
point, in fact she revels in the murder and all the guilt that can be accepted. In Act
II, scene ii, when Macbeth won't return the daggers to the crime scene, she does so
herself. Upon her return, she says this to Macbeth:
My hands are of your colour; but I
shame
To wear a heart so
white.
She is implying that
any remorse or angst he feels over the murder is the sign of a coward. Lady Macbeth
bears her part in the murder, her guilt, as a badge of honor in the first Acts of the
play. It is her 180 degree turn in Act V that reveals the dark side of the effect of
the murder and its guilt on her sanity.
But, even though
Lady Macbeth proudly bears her part in the murder, her guilt, Shakespeare does provide
some ironic foreshadowing of what is to come in Act V for Lady Macbeth. At the very end
of Act III, scene iv, as she attempts to sooth the rattled Macbeth, she
says:
You lack
the season of all natures,
sleep.
and Macbeth
answers:
Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and
self-abuse
Is the initiate fear that wants hard
use;
We are yet but young in
deed.
The mention by Lady
Macbeth of sleep as the restorative for Macbeth's addled mind, is ironic because it will
be her lack of sleep and her restless sleepwalking that reveal how her guilt has robbed
her of her peace of mind.
And, interestingly, it is Macbeth
who realizes that he must shake off his regret and remorse in order to be in it for the
long haul. Throughout the remainder of the play, he is the one who freely accepts his
own guilt while continuing to murder and commit evil with a free conscience. It is,
ultimately, Lady Macbeth, who is consumed and taken down by her own feelings of remorse
and regret.
For more analysis of Lady Macbeth and guilt,
please follow the links below.
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