Lady Macbeth's Moral Code

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Macbeth’s actions show that he is strictly bound by a moral code even as he breaks it. Firstly, before he even he commits the, “sacrilegious murder,” he feels guilt over his future actions and worries over being caught. Lady Macbeth has to convince him to actually, “screw his courage to the sticking place,” and commit the deed. Macbeth’s indecisiveness is an indicator of his own battle between ambition and what he knows to be moral; he agonises over his decision. He begs the stars to hide their light and not see his, “black and deep desires,” almost like he is asking God not to look at what he is doing. He fears divine retribution for his despicable deed. Secondly, Macbeth is well aware of the consequences, both in this world and the next,…show more content…
First of all, her behaviour at the beginning of the play seems to indicate a lack of a moral code, as she voices her desire to be filled up with, “direst cruelty,” so that she will not waver in her actions. But even she has a small flame of conscience that cannot be extinguished. She cannot kill Duncan because he resembles her, “father as he slept.” This glimmer of morality is what causes her mental faculties to utterly break down near the end of the play. If she had no sense of morality, she would not have an, “infected mind,” after committing such a grievous sin. Next, Lady Macbeth’s hallucinations and madness, as with Macbeth’s, are products of her subconscious focusing on her guilt. She declares after the murder that, “a little water clears us,” of their sins, but after her descent into madness she becomes obsessed with removing the imaginary blood from her hands. No matter how much she tries her, “hands [will] ne’er be clean.” She can never be free of her sins. Lastly, although she initially prefers the blanket of darkness to cover her actions, Lady Macbeth later demands, “a light by her continually,” as she sleepwalks. This is in stark contrast to her earlier wish for heaven not to, “peep under the blanket of darkness.” Despite her earlier revelry in the, “thick night,” she is now terrified of the dark and what it represents. The guilt that has driven her mad causes her to
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