Why couldnt macbeth say amen

In Act 2 scene 2 the murder of King Duncan is committed. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth discuss their guilty nature through the use of imagery and stage directions.

“What hath quenched them, hath given me fire. -Hark, peace; it was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman”, Lady Macbeth reveals the use of an ‘owl’ who traditionally was commonly regarded as the harbinger of death, therefore signalling the death of Duncan. Throughout the play birds are used to foreshadow death and they bring about an eerie soundscape. Sound is also utilised in the stage directions ‘Knock within’ and the stage direction is repeated, as suggested by Spurgeon it signifies the “reverberating sound of guilt” therefore conveying how their guilt over the murder of Duncan haunts them. The interpretation to some extent is credible as ‘knocking’ is used again during Lady Macbeth’s somnambulism “to bed, to bed…there’s a knocking” therefore suggesting the lasting effect of the murderous night upon the pair. However it is not consistent for Macbeth, this could be because he is slowly hardened by the prophecies that portray Macbeth as invincible “no man of woman born shall harm Macbeth”.

There are also important revelations about the character of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t”, the quotation could imply that Lady Macbeth is a coward because she was the counterpart who pushed the murder but was not compelled by her evil to commit the murder thus depicting her as weak. It is supported through her description, “my hands are of your colour…I shame to wear a heart so white”, conveying that her heart is pure but ‘white’ is also the colour of cowardliness. Yet it may not be convincing as Lady Macbeth may be conforming to the paradigm that regicide is comparable to the killing of your own father, therefore she did not want to disrupt the natural order. Macbeth’s character is also revealed, “One cried ‘God Bless us’, and ‘Amen’ the other, as they had seen me with these hangman’s hands;listening their fear, I could not say ‘Amen'” therefore describing the religious fear that Macbeth is experiencing, through committing regicide he accepts the fact that he may never have atonement for his sins. Moreover a sense of conscience is implied through he declaration “I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again, I dare not”, conveying that he may be a man of honour and that his self-reproach means that he numbs himself the feelings of remorse. Moreover the same sense is conveyed through his hyperbolic language “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No-this may hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine” showing how the stain of blood, which is arguably the stain of guilt, shall never be removed from his hands. It could also be argued that through this the naivety of Lady Macbeth is shown through his speech “a little water clears us of this deed”, but as we know Lady Macbeth continually attempts to remove the stain of blood from her hands during her sleep-walking and dreaming.