Macbeth and Fifth Business : Guilt

EXPLORING THE THEME OF GUILT IN THE FIFTH BUSINESS AND MACBETH

This will explore the theme of guilt in the stories of Macbeth ' by William Shakespeare and the Fifth Business ' by Robertson Davies . More specifically , this claims the guilt is a powerful emotion that can destroy a person . Basically , guilt in the context of the two stories led to devastations and up to some extent the ultimate downfall of a person . Moreover , guilt is confronted by people in different ways . Some would have a difficult time getting over it while others would

easily get rid of it . And finally , it is the guilt of a person that serves as a catalyst to his suffering which is most of the time , on the emotional aspect

On the story of Macbeth , guilt is found on the act of killing . The protagonist of the story , Macbeth , was persuaded to kill King Duncan of Scotland as well as his guard due to the persuasion of the three witches and his wife . But after the deed was done , Macbeth was guilt stricken This is evident on the absent-mindedness nature of Macbeth after committing murder . In fact , after immediately killing the King , Macbeth is still carrying the bloodied daggers which are supposed to be planted on the guards of the King . Because of this , Lady Macbeth has to return into the King 's chamber to plant the daggers and even smear blood on the guards . It was noted that Macbeth has told her wife that he could not bring himself to return at the room anymore . In addition , even before the act of killing the King , Macbeth already feels guilty to what he will do . This is depicted on Act II , Scene II , Line 42 and 43 of the novel . It was declared in these lines that he heard of a voice saying that he has murdered sleep ' and that he shall sleep no more . Even after Macbeth became a King , the guilt feeling still lingered . It has even aggravated by his hallucinations with his of killing Banquo Furthermore , even Lady Macbeth has suddenly felt remorse with their deed . As a matter of fact , Lady Macbeth 's conscience has been irrelevant on their earlier part of the story . Eventually , she was also guilt-stricken thus having hallucinations and other vivid forms of imagination . At the end of the story , both of the Macbeths suffered a painful death which is a result of their deed in killing King Duncan

Meanwhile , the story of the Fifth Business tells about the guilt felt by Dunstable Ramsay towards a woman named Mary Dempster . Basically , when Ramsay and his friend , Percy Boyd Staunton , are snow fighting , they accidentally hit Mrs . Dempster who is pregnant at this time . Because of this , the act resulted to the very problematic as well as premature labor of Mrs . Dempster to his child , Paul Dempster . Unlike his friend Staunton , Ramsay was very guilty to what happened because he was the one who is supposedly...