By forgiving himself, he was able to move on to save the good of Scotland. Neither Macbeth nor Lady Macbeth were able to forgive themselves for their actions, yetthey responded to their guilt in different ways. There are many reasons why they could have responded differently, but I believe that these characters were returning to different thoughts of remorse. Lady Macbeth kept on returning to her idea to kill Duncan, and that she convinced Macbeth to carry out the murder. She didn’t get any benefits from Duncan’s death, and felt nothing but sorry for her actions.
Macbeth responds, in brief, as a loyal thane to the Scottish king, but the prospect unnerves him. * The audience could see Macbeth’s ambition leading him to cursed thoughts which has been greatly *enforced and twisted* by the* malicious* witches. *The caution from the first apparition causes Macbeth to start a bloody massacre across England, killing families of people who may threaten his position. After this point in the play, we see *that *Macbeth* has* turn*ed* into a ruthless tyrant* in the hope of avoiding fate*, so desensitized to humanity that even the suicide of his wife *could not arouse grief from him. * All he could muster was* “She should have died hereafter”.
He is seen, in part, as a victim of Lady Macbeth’s ambitions. Another characteristic of the tragic hero is Macbeth’s guilt. At the end of Act 2 Macbeth greatly regrets the murder of King Duncan. “Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!” This shows that Macbeth has a conscience which is typical of a tragic hero, as it is usual that the
Macbeth’s wrongdoings are amplified by the kindness and loyalty of Macduff and the legacy Duncan left as a great king. Macbeth and Macduff are almost complete opposites. Macduff’s sincerity and loyalty helps expose how bad Macbeth actually is. Macduff’s character shows that even though Macbeth is the main character, and in the beginning he doesn’t seem that bad, but in the end he seems like a really horrible person. Macbeth seems like an even worse person after he kills Macduff’s family for no apparent reason.
The idea of blood in other works and novels typically evokes the idea of slaughter and massacre. However, in this play the blood symbolizes the guilt that will forever stain the palms of Macbeth and his wife. The simple act of murder that was once looked at as indifferent led to a devastating past. Macbeth expresses his guilt when he remarks, “And with thy bloody and invisible hand/ Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond/ Which keeps me pale” (3.3.48-50). Macbeth is scared by the blood of Duncan.
According to Brown, “The dramatist depicts incidents which arouse pity and fear for the protagonist [Antigone], then during the course of the action, he resolves the major conflicts, bringing the plot to a logic and foreseeable conclusion (Brown, para 5). The tragic hero in Antigone is Creon. Tragic heroes are not all good and not all bad. Creon suffers a great deal due to his tragic flaw and destructive pride. Creon believes the gods make him suffer the loss of his wife and son as punishment for his pride.
Macduff is a loyal Scottish nobleman and the Thane of Fife. After Macbeth murders Macduff's family, Macduff grieves for his loved ones and then resolves to kill Macbeth in man-to-man combat. At the play's end, he triumphantly carries Macbeth's severed head to Malcolm, the future king. Macduff is not a man of many words, but he is one of the few characters in the play whose absence or silence speaks as much for him as his words. When Macduff speaks, you listen, because it's a rarity and because it's generally sensible and genuine.
This is ironic because right after this Duncan puts all his trust in Macbeth who ends up killing him – the king appears to have his vision clouded by the “fog” which prevents him from singling out betrayal (he is a poor judge of character). However, unlike their father Donaldbain and Malcolm sense deceit, after their father is announced dead they decide to flee Scotland in fear of murder. As Donaldbain says: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles; the nea’er in blood, /The nearer bloody.” They notice the concept of deceptive appearances and know that if the murderer had no problem with killing the king then they will be murdered without a second thought – as long as they are close to murder, theirs is inevitable. Donaldbain associates daggers with blood which is connected to the first scene in this Act where a dagger appears to Macbeth. This association may also suggest that the two brothers subconsciously know that Macbeth killed their father – this relates to Freud’s iceberg metaphor which is that the fully conscious
Both characters show signs of guilty conscience later in the play and eventually die for their tragic flaws. Brutus and Macbeth have similar situations; however, there is much difference in the characteristics and personality of the characters. Brutus’s intention is reasonable and straightforward while Macbeth commits the crime because of his ambitious and corrupt characteristics. Brutus murders Caesar for his country and well being of the people whereas Macbeth does it for his own self gain. Brutus is a Roman nobleman who loves his country greatly.
Throughout Othello Desdemona feels guilt about ''losing'' the handkerchief. However, she is glad that her ''... noble Moor/ Is true of mind and made of no such baseness/ As jealous creatures are'' but this idea is juxtaposed, ''How shall I murder him, Iago'' expresses that he isn't the ''noble...hero'' we perceived him to be from his ''respectful'' appearance at the beginning. ''My parts, my title, and my perfect soul/ Shall manifest me rightly'' irony is portrayed as he murders two people that were