She is recounting the horrific details of King Duncan's murder in that famous Shakespeare play.

Crouched nearby, her waiting woman and doctor listen.

The doc cups a hand and in a stage whisper remarks: "Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly."

I love that line. It's what I tell my interviewees.

"Out, damn'd spot! out, I say! One; two: why, then 'tis time to do't."

And she rambles on, the obscure rattling of a woman affected by her guilt, even in her subconscious thoughts.

Centuries later, guilt is so passe. Or perhaps the admission of guilt.

Acceptance of the G-word brings on responsibility, and that can be an expensive business.

You ding someone's Merc in a supermarket car park. No one was looking ... what to do ...

Should you do a runner and avoid the hefty repair bill? Or fess up and take the consequences of your mistake on the chin?

Tripping over a cracked footpath and suing the council for your clumsiness.

The tendency is for us to pass the blame.

Don't worry, it's nothing new, it's been happening since day dot.

In the Garden of Eden, God asked Adam if he had eaten the forbidden fruit.

He replied: "The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:12)

And when God confronted Eve about the matter, what was her response?

"The serpent deceived me, and I ate," she said (v. 13).

And the eternal blame game began. The good news is that God also offers his forgiveness.

It has been said: "To err is human, to forgive divine." And that forgiveness is God's divine gift to us.

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