How far do you agree that Macbeth regrets his actions throughout the play?
Macbeth could be viewed as one of the most prolific cold-blooded murderers in all of Shakespeare's work. He spends the vast majority of the play wilfully killing for his own benefit under the encouragement of his wife. However, it could be said that he regrets the actions he commits during the play.
His wife's assessment of his nature in Act One, Scene Five could be considered a precursor for the regret that Macbeth will later feel. Where Lady Macbeth wishes that she could be stripped of all the emotions associated with human nature and “fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (line 40-41), but fears her husband's nature is “too full o' the milk of human-kindness” to carry out the plan. This could then indicate that Macbeth has a weakness in his generous emotions that could result in his not wanting to commit the actions he is tasked with.
Macbeth's reluctance and procrastination in Act One, Scene Seven could connote pre-regret. His soliloquy about pity and horrid deeds takes up roughly a page's worth of time, preventing his having to return to dinner and perhaps then prolonging the time Duncan spends awake. He fears his actions, perhaps concerned that they will return to haunt him in the form of regrets. “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor” (Line 9-10).
This suggestion of things returning to plague him could be shown to manifest in the form of the ghosts that appear to him. This then draws a parallel between Macbeth's regrets and the ghost of Banquo, suggesting that because Macbeth regrets the murder of his dear friend so fully, he is creating this vision to subconsciously comfort himself, despite the shock and horror with which he recieves the vision.
“For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered, Put rancours in the vessel of my peace” (A3,S5,L65-66).
The use of the word gracious in this context implies that Macbeth has regrets stemming from his decision to murder Duncan. Duncan has awarded him a great many privileges in the past, and he has repaid him by murdering him. Macbeth's then betrayal has left him reeling with regret.
