Guilt in Macbeth There is a great burden of guilt carried by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Let's take a closer look at this situation in the following essay. Fanny Kemble in "Lady Macbeth" states that Lady Macbeth was unaware of her guilt, which nevertheless killed her: Lady Macbeth, even in her sleep, has no pangs of conscience; his remorse does not take on any of the more tender forms similar to repentance, nor the weaker ones related to fear, from the search for which the tortured soul, seeking where to hide, not infrequently flees into the boundless desert of madness. A very clever article, published some years ago in the National Review, on the character of Lady Macbeth, insists much on the opinion that she died of remorse, as a palliation of her crimes and the mitigation of our detestation towards them. That she died from malice would, I think, be a fairer verdict. Remorse is awareness of guilt. . . and this I believe Lady Macbeth never had; even if the unacknowledged pressure of her great guilt killed her. (116-17)In "Memoranda: Observations on the Character of Lady Macbeth", Sarah Siddons mentions Lady Macbeth's guilt and ambition and their effect:[Re "I gave to suck" (1.7.54 ff.)] Here too, hideous as she is, she shows herself to be created by ambition, but not by nature, a perfectly wild creature. The very use of such a tender allusion amidst her frightening language, persuades unmistakably that she truly felt the maternal desire of a mother towards her child, and that she considered this action the most enormous that ever required force of man. nerves for its perpetration. His language with Macbeth is the most powerfully eloquent language guilt can use. (56)Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare explain how guilt affects Lady Macbeth:Lady Macbeth is of a finer and more delicate nature. Having fixed her sights on the end - her husband's attainment of Duncan's crown - she accepts the inevitable means; he steels himself for terrible night work with artificial stimulants; however he cannot strike the sleeping king who resembles his father. Having supported the weaker husband, his strength fails; and in sleep, when the will cannot control her thoughts, she is pitifully afflicted by the memory of a bloodstain on her little hand..