A somewhat later source puts it this way:
As a motivator, guilt is often a miserable failure. Macbeth is a case study in guilt and how it can move a man to do more and more evil, not less. Lady Macbeth ridicules the very concept of guilt. She is a practical woman, not one to let the pale cast of thought get in her way. Her method for dealing with guilt is admirably practical: a little water clears her of the deed. She merely underestimated how much water she would need. Macbeth knew from the start that the multitudinous seas were not enough; he keeps his sense of guilt and his sanity. Does this make him a better person than his wife?
Lady Macbeth is ranked among the evillest of villainnesses in literature. But she balks at further killing. Again she is a practical woman, looking only to the immediate payoff: all she wanted was a contented life as Queen of Scotland in exchange for Duncan's murder. She did not get the contentment she wanted and knew she would never have it; she had spent her one chance for happiness and knew that she would never get another. The immediate gain was never enough for Macbeth, however, and as a result he drowns himself in blood. He finds no peace in the present, but looks vainly to find peace in the future, in murder after murder. He seeks comfort in fortune tellers and in the deaths of Banquo and Macduff--no, not merely in their deaths, but in the deaths of their futures. All the while his burden of guilt crushes him; even as he prepares for the last fight with Macduff he hesitates, unwilling if only for a second to add further to the charge of blood on his soul. But only for a second. Guilt was not enough to stop him.
But, you know, for all of that...Macbeth was right to feel guilty and Lady Macbeth was wrong. Don't you agree?
There's a reason I wrote the above paragraph but at the moment I haven't the energy to continue. The scream has grown more and more remote. Perhaps some other time.
Lisa: My conscience is bothering me.
Homer: Your conscience!? Lisa, don't let that pushy little weenie tell you what to do.
Homer's Conscience: Homer, that's a terrible thing to say.
Homer: Aw, shut up!
Homer's Conscience: Yes, sir. (disappears)
As a motivator, guilt is often a miserable failure. Macbeth is a case study in guilt and how it can move a man to do more and more evil, not less. Lady Macbeth ridicules the very concept of guilt. She is a practical woman, not one to let the pale cast of thought get in her way. Her method for dealing with guilt is admirably practical: a little water clears her of the deed. She merely underestimated how much water she would need. Macbeth knew from the start that the multitudinous seas were not enough; he keeps his sense of guilt and his sanity. Does this make him a better person than his wife?
Lady Macbeth is ranked among the evillest of villainnesses in literature. But she balks at further killing. Again she is a practical woman, looking only to the immediate payoff: all she wanted was a contented life as Queen of Scotland in exchange for Duncan's murder. She did not get the contentment she wanted and knew she would never have it; she had spent her one chance for happiness and knew that she would never get another. The immediate gain was never enough for Macbeth, however, and as a result he drowns himself in blood. He finds no peace in the present, but looks vainly to find peace in the future, in murder after murder. He seeks comfort in fortune tellers and in the deaths of Banquo and Macduff--no, not merely in their deaths, but in the deaths of their futures. All the while his burden of guilt crushes him; even as he prepares for the last fight with Macduff he hesitates, unwilling if only for a second to add further to the charge of blood on his soul. But only for a second. Guilt was not enough to stop him.
But, you know, for all of that...Macbeth was right to feel guilty and Lady Macbeth was wrong. Don't you agree?
There's a reason I wrote the above paragraph but at the moment I haven't the energy to continue. The scream has grown more and more remote. Perhaps some other time.
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