Responsibility Bi-Weekly Feb. 2013 | Page 3

Act II- A Discovery

In Act II, Duncans dead body is discovered. However, unplanned, the bodies of two slain guards are also discovered. Out of paranoia of being caught and sheer guilt Macbeth slays the two guards that were supposed to be framed for the murder of Duncan. His guilt and his alone caused him to do this. Lady Macbeth was completely unaware that Macbeth had done this, and had she known, she would have stopped him. This deviation from the original plan shows how dangerous a guilty conscience can be. His rash decision could have caused both he and his wife to be found repsonsible for the murder of King Duncan. A guilty conscience in many cases leads people to do things before thinking, or that they wouldn't normally do. Guilt is a powerful emotion, and recurring theme throughout Macbeth. In this case, it is strongly inclined to the negative side of the spectrum. Had Macbeth not allowed his guilty conscience to take control of him, then Macduff would not have started to become suspicious. His story that he killed the guards out of pure rage did not add up, and Macduff knew it. Macduff's suspicion leads to the eventual downfall of Macbeth and this is only the begginning of problems to arise due to his guilty conscience. On page 57, Macbeth says,

"But wherefore could I not pronounce "Amen"? / I had most need of blessing, and "Amen" / Stuck in my throat."

This quote helps to reveal how truly overwhelmed Macbeth was with guilt. To the point that he could not even say the word "amen." He felt terrible for killing the innocent guards, and he knew the two things that he had just done were immoral. The sheer power of guilt was enough to convince Macbeth that killing the guards was the only way to go, thus leading him in the wrong direction and causing him to let his guilty and rash conscience to take over.

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