Macbeth – from Act 5 Scene 1, lines 28 to 57
In this extract, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking.
LADY MACBETH
Yet here’s a spot.
DOCTOR
Hark! She speaks. I will set down what comes from her,
to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. 30
LADY MACBETH
Out, damned spot! Out, I say! – One, two. Why, then
’tis time to do it. – Hell is murky. – Fie, my lord, fie! – a
soldier, and afeard? – What need we fear who knows it,
when none can call our power to account? – Yet who
would have thought the old man to have had so much 35
blood in him?
DOCTOR
Do you mark that?
LADY MACBETH
The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? –
What, will these hands ne’er be clean? – No more
o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with this 40
starting.
DOCTOR
Go to, go to: you have known what you should not.
GENTLEWOMAN
She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of
that. Heaven knows what she has known.
LADY MACBETH
Here’s the smell of the blood still! All the perfumes of 45
Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O! Oh, oh –
DOCTOR
What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged.
GENTLEWOMAN
I would not have such a heart in my bosom for
the dignity of the whole body.
DOCTOR
Well, well, well –

GENTLEWOMAN
Pray God it be, sir.
DOCTOR
This disease is beyond my practice. Yet I have known
those which have walked in their sleep, who have died
holily in their beds.
LADY MACBETH
Wash your hands, put on your night-gown. Look 55
not so pale. – I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried: he
cannot come out on’s grave.

In this extract, Lady Macbeth shows her guilt over the murder of Duncan.
Explain the importance of guilt elsewhere in the play.
In your answer, you must consider:
• how guilt is shown
• the reasons for the guilt within the play.
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

Guilt is a recurring theme in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, and it is evident in various ways throughout the story. The extract from Act 5 Scene 1, where Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and reveals her guilt over the murder of King Duncan, is just one example of how guilt is depicted in the play.

In the extract, Lady Macbeth’s guilt is evident through her sleepwalking and her obsessive behavior with trying to clean her hands, which she believes are stained with blood. She repeatedly exclaims, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” and “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” This vividly portrays her inner turmoil and psychological distress caused by her guilt. She also expresses shock and remorse when she mentions the amount of blood Duncan had in him, saying, “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” This shows that she is haunted by the gruesome act of murder that she was involved in and is unable to shake off the guilt associated with it.