Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Guilt... it eats us up

Lady Macbeth started the play as a mean manipulator with the strength of a man. She ended the play with an insane sleepwalk that eventually led to her taking her own life. Guilt is the disease that she could not shake.

Have you or anyone you know ever been so wrought with guilt about something that you (or the person) had to confess? Have you ever felt so guilty that it led to moments of misery or to other bad things happening? Okay, if you don't want to do any true confessions, do you know any literature or movies where a character experiences this emotion to its fullest?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I was younger, I had a hamster. One of my chores was to clean his cage every week. My sister did something bad to me, (I can't remember what.. but oh well) so I took all of the hamster shavings and sprinkled them around her room. (The hamster shavings included the animal's urine and feces.) Once my sister discovered the horrible mess, she ran downstairs and told on me. My mom didn't believe her; she thought that my sister did it to her own room to get me in trouble. My sister got spanked, put in time out, grounded, and on top of that, she had to clean up the mess. She also got the reputation in the family as the tattle-telling-liar. The subject came up many years later one night over dinner at La Paz, and I confessed to the the deed. The guilt was unbearable.

Anonymous said...

Guilt can definitely take over your mind after you have done something wrong. Guilt can build up after you have done something wrong that you can't take it anymore you have to tell the person what you did wrong. Also sometimes it just gets worde because you start to feel guilty and keep digging yourself into more lies thinking it will help making it worse.

Anonymous said...

Wow Jonathan! That's pretty mean! I can't think of a specific time, but I'm sure its happened. A few years ago my sister borrowed a pair of earrings from me that were pretty nice. She lost one of them but was too scared to tell me. I asked her for them on several occasions and she always changed the subject, left, or acted like she was going to get them and then never came back. After a few weeks, she came into my room crying and told me what happened. haha! I didn't care. I figured that she had lost it, but I was glad she finally told me the truth.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Virginia. When you don't face even a simple problem head on, you may have to deal with its painful effects for a long time. While I cannot think of a specific instance, i know that it has been a part of my life growing up in my family life. And I know others who have had to deal with guilt for something as small as a lie for a long time and have had to deal with the emotional damage. For instance, often times when a family member or even a pet dies, someone will always try to take the blame, even if it wasn't his or her fault. This is sad, but true.

Anonymous said...

OKay, on thing that I really hate is wehn people have not guilt. I don't understand how they can just detach themselves to the point where they have not guilt/remorse about what they had done. If I do something wrong, or something "bad" I have to tell the person it is going to effect imediatley. I wish that I could just brush it off and not worry about it, but I can't. Like if I ever try to cover something up with my parents, it won't work because I feel so bad about it that I eventually tell them what I did wrong. And by eventually I mean in the next hour or so.

Anonymous said...

I agree that guilt eats you up. A great example would be Mrs. Caldwell. She gave her 1st period class P.D.A.s and nothing for the other classes. This is going to eat her up inside because she was not fair to all her students, but it is ok because she will soon be feeling terrible inside and will probably lose some sleep because of it.

Anonymous said...

Everyone has felt guilty about something or the other, some just hide it well. I personally cant. When I am guilty about something it shows.

Anonymous said...

I have known a few people who have had guilt eat them up till they confessed. I also know people who will be eaten up by guilt....for example, Mrs. Johnny Caldwell. She decided to give first period pdas and no one else....that stinks...im OUTRAGED (thats for you jordan). Anyway, Mrs. Caldwell, im just kidding, and you better publish this.

Anonymous said...

Guilt is a good thing. I makes you think about what you have done. I makes people not do any more bad things.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I think my dad is a CIA agent and knows everything that I do. I mean he is kinda scary about how good he is being able to tell if I'm lying or not. So I usually go ahead and tell him if I did something bad because he usually finds out anyway, and if I tell him upfront he doesn't get mad.

Anonymous said...

I HATE GUILT! ask any of my friends...guilt and awkwardness are my two least favorite feelings in the world! Sometimes i don't do things just because i know i'll feel guilty the next day.

Anonymous said...

I have a huge conscience. Sometimes I cannot sleep if I feel guilty about something. I'm really bad at lying also, and if I do it I can't look the person in the face. I guess that is good because it will keep me from doing things that I will regret.

Anonymous said...

Guilt is good because it keeps you from doing things that you know you shouldnt do. You might know that you wont get in trouble for doing the wrong thing but your consciounce will make you feel guilty and that is bad enough.

tarkineus said...

RECYCLED GUILT
Hmm, I'm not a member of this class, indeed I'm just a stranger passing by. But as an adolescent boy of ten I was both saviour and tormentor to my teenage sister. She was terrified of huntsmen spiders, those big brown furry critters that somehow found their way into her room (curiously, only one at any given time). She would pay a quarter for removing and executing arachnids but somehow one would always manage to find its way back. I know that mom suspected that it was being recycled; now why would she think that! ;))

My sister has long since gone leaving me with this unconfessed and unrepented scam.

Anonymous said...

This one time when i was a kid i took two helpings of chocolate pie after my mom had told me specifically to only take one. The whole family came to get their dessert and sure enough there wasn't enough for everyone, because I had eaten more than I should have. My mom asked me if I had taken more than my share of the after dinner treat and I quickly assured her that I had only had one piece of pie. I went to my room and sulked over the lie I had just told my mother. It only took an hour for the guilt to eat away at me and I went and confessed my wrongdoings to my mom. She was quick to tell me that she knew the whole time but she was glad I had told the truth. I didn't get dessert again for two weeks