Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 2 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth about being tortured by nightmares.[Macbeth.] Better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy.

Macbeth says it would be better to be dead than to endure the torment of his restless mind. He and Lady Macbeth have sent the murdered people to their deaths, yet he cannot find peace himself. This shows how guilt consumes and torments him, so the best choice is “the consuming power of guilt.”

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