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  • Essay / Free Essays on Macbeth: The Macbeth Within - 530

    The Macbeth Within Assumptions are made throughout our lives, just as nobles suspect Macbeth of murder. Macbeth has given them a reasonable number of examples to justify their predictions about his bloody deeds, but his inner monologue is only accessible to the reader. Such thoughts of guilt and remorse are expressed through his discussions with Lady Macbeth, his unconscious reactions to Banquo's ghost, and the "tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Scotland makes accusations through Banquo's soliloquy and the nobles speaking to Macbeth in act five, thus proving their murder convictions. The entire country believes he is covered in blood, but the reader is the only one who understands his reactions to the actions he has committed. Like a child, Macbeth tries to run away from his problems, but he doesn't know where to go. “I'm afraid to think about what I've done,” reveals his inability to think through scenarios before committing to them. He now realizes that what he did is against his own morals, deeply guilty, and tries to resolve his problems with his wife. Macbeth's conscience cries out: "Before we eat our meal, I fear I shall sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams which shake us at night", for the reality of the crime has dawned on us and the only one to whom Macbeth can to confide is Lady Macbeth. At this point in the book, no guilt is felt on Lady Macbeth's part, leaving Macbeth looking like a boy crying out for help when no one listens. Through Macbeth's attempt to make sense of what happened during the "tomorrow and tomorrow" speech, he states: "Life is but a waking shadow, a poor player strutting and strutting worries during his hour on stage and is no longer heard from.” He claims that we will all, at some point in our lives, have to finish our play, although when that happens it makes no difference, because our lives “mean nothing.” By pretending that life is insignificant, Macbeth makes excuses for the murders he has committed, when deep down, this is just a cover-up for the guilt that simmers within him. The assumptions Macbeth makes about the meaning of life prove that Macbeth is actually meant to assuage his own remorse by summarizing life through the eyes of a murderer. Such a soliloquy makes Scotland despise him, as he seems relentless and bloody..