“Was Lady Macbeth correct? ‘What’s done is done.'”
Whats done is done. These are the words spoken by William Shakespeare’s character Macbeth. However, the question must then be asked. Is what’s done done? These words are important to the entire context of the play, but what is the play? Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare and is a tragedy about a man’s decent into complete and utter madness. What seems to happen is that the man falls down a rabbit hole of murder and lust of power. The play was written to show the tragedy of greed and politcal greed. It was a warning to people that politcs are a long dangerous road that lead to guilt and regret.
The play begins with a man who is a general for Scotland. He recieves word from 3 witches that one day he will become the king of Scotland. Hearing of such news, he goes mad with the idea. Soon, he cannot wait any longer and decides to kill the king himself and take the place. While at first he seems to be okay, soon his mind is plagued with paranoia and worry. He begins to kill more and more. Murder after murder he is obsessed with death. He is constantly trying to protect himself, and in that he becomes a tryannical ruler. He his cruel and eventually a civil erupts in Scotland because of his rule.
He then realizes what atrocities he has committed. He opens his eyes to the sins that he fell victim to. He murdered many innocents people. He then mutters the phrase, What’s done is done. He must move on with the evil committed and for the rest of his life live with the horrors committed by him. He
What’s done is not always done. This means, when something happens, usually there is some way to fix it, or make it better. If vase is broken, yes it is broken. We can’t go back and not break it. Instead, one might glue the vase, or try to repair it. However, in a situation of murder, there is no bonding the pieces back together. There is no adhesive to reseal life that’s been taken. He knew that, and that’s where the phrase must have come from.
To answer the prompt, in his situation, what’s done is done. The damage has come to a conclusion. The families were most likely suffering, and the men are dead. There is no way to take back what had happened. There is no retraction of action in this situation. The only way to fix it would be either face death himself, or go to prison for life.
This story has a powerful message of guilt and regret. Often mistakes are tempory, but the consequences could last a lifetime. That’s what happened here. Regret eventually reached a killer, and in the end, everybody lost.
JBSchool 