Macbeth

            In Macbeth, the character Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth are ironically removed from power do to their conscience. During the play, there is a major shift in personality that takes place with Macbeth. This shift causes his conscience to come back to haunt him. As a result, both him and his wife suffer a tragic punishment for this.
             Macbeth is shown to be a brave hero with a good conscience in the beginning of the play until Lady Macbeth transforms his character. King Duncan says, "He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust." The king and the people of Scotland admire Macbeth. He is a man who would normally be emotionally incapable of murdering someone close to him. However, Lady Macbeth is the evil voice that tells Macbeth to do evil things. She says to Macbeth, "Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o" th" milk of human kindness." Lady Macbeth is looking to transform Macbeth into a heartless murderer. She is really only interested in her own power.
             In addition, Macbeth's way of dealing with his guilty conscience is to face it by committing more murders. He pays to assassinate his best friend Banquo after he kills king Duncan and claims the throne. Macbeth feels the need to murder others to maintain his way of living. He does this out of fear. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, "These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad." Lady Macbeth tries to ignore her conscience and encourages her husband to do the same. This is the reason why she is unaffected by these violent acts. Lady Macbeth's statement is actually true in the end because Macbeth is driven mad due to his conscience and causes their downfall.
             Macbeth is a very guilty and lonely man by the end of the play. His visions of Banquo at the party due to a guilty conscience give him away as the murderer of Banquo. This leads to the noblemen of Scotland turning against him. His time as king is getting short.