Guilt can play a major role in someone's life; it can cause them to act differently than they normally would in certain situations. Guilt can make us regret decisions that we make even if we were sure that we wouldn't have feelings of remorse when we committed these actions. A real life example of this was when back in 1960 a young Dartmouth student stole a WWI cannon outside of a war veterans retirement home. The cannon would continue to be hidden up until 40 years later when an old man who claimed to be an old Dartmouth student decided that the prank had gotten old and told the location of the hidden cannon to the authorities. As it turned out the cannon was hidden under the Dartmouth football field's stands, and marked with a limber, or wheeled ammunition carriage, which had been in plain sight for forty years (many people had known it was there, but naturally since it wasn't bothering anyone nobody bothered to say anything about it. Now all these years after the cannon was stolen, its location was revealed because of an old man who felt too guilty to take the secret of the cannon's location to his grave.
For myself personally guilt hasn't really affected me much. I'm not saying that I have never apologized when I have done something wrong, but usually that's only when I get caught doing something. Honestly, other than that I don't feel guilt that often. I try to live without regret, and if I ever begin to feel any I ignore it and move on.
Anyway, in Macbeth guilt affects one character in particular and leads to her apparent suicide. Lady Macbeth spends most of her time at the end of the play talking to herself about her regret of killing King Duncan. She continually remarks on how she felt regret for his murder because she apparently felt that she had pushed her husband into murdering the king. Eventually, right before the final battle between Macbeth and Macduff, she dies, most likely a case of suicide. This shows how powerful guilt can be and how it can lead people "over the edge." This is another example of how human emotion really can play a huge role in the way that people live out their lives.
Sources cited:
Abel, David. "Guilt May Have Cracked Cold Case; Man's Confession Could Bring Return of Cannon to Vt." The Boston Globe 10 Apr. 2008, Final ed., sec. B: 1. ProQuest. 16 Apr. 2008.
