Lady Macbeth's character can teach us that guilt can slowly eat away at a person and that it is nearly impossible to live happily with a guilty conscience. Although Lady Macbeth appeared to be completely without scruples during the planning of Duncan's murder and then remorseless after the murder is complete, we see her guilty conscience return to plague her in Act 5, scene 1. She can no longer sleep peacefully, and even her relationship...
Lady Macbeth's character can teach us that guilt can slowly eat away at a person and that it is nearly impossible to live happily with a guilty conscience. Although Lady Macbeth appeared to be completely without scruples during the planning of Duncan's murder and then remorseless after the murder is complete, we see her guilty conscience return to plague her in Act 5, scene 1. She can no longer sleep peacefully, and even her relationship with her husband has begun to suffer (which we see as early as Act 3). It seemed that she would be the one never to feel regret, but as more time goes by after the murder, her guilt slowly eats away at her, compromising both her sleep and her sanity. She relives the night of the murder over and over while she sleepwalks, believing that Duncan's blood is still on her hands, that it will never come off. This figurative blood on her hands represents how her participation in his murder is still affecting her conscience.
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