Examples Of Hallucinations In Macbeth

In Shakespeare play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s character progresses in an interesting manner. Lady Macbeth is made to act as an incentive to Macbeth's immoral actions. Even though Macbeth is generally the person to have a final say before killing someone, Lady Macbeth plays the role of his “sidekick”. She mocks her husband if he worries over a sinful deed (which usually she instructs him to do), saying he would be less of a man if he does not follow through with their plan (I. vii. 56-57). She gives Macbeth a short lecture in deceptiveness when they are planning to kill King Duncan (I. vi. 73-78). She also prepared the daggers for Macbeth to kill Duncan in advance (II. ii. 15-16). Although her husband was still having doubts, she was always ready to go in for the kill. She did not think twice about it or feel any remorse. This shows that Lady Macbeth evolved into looking like a humble and quieter person on the exterior, but being an insane woman and criminal due to the events that have affected her.

Lady Macbeth encourages the murder of Duncan. When Macbeth starts to go crazy over the thought of being caught, she acts in a calm manor. Lady Macbeth states, “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures” (II.ii.52-3). She tells him dead and sleeping people cannot hurt him. Although in this event, Lady Macbeth seems like she doesn’t have and mental deterioration yet, she hides it better than Macbeth. Her guilt starts to show in her sleep. She utters, “Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone” (V.i.46). Lady Macbeth relives the murderous scenes while sleepwalking. She mumbles on and on about washing the blood from her hands and covering up the crime. Lady Macbeth is reenacting when she hurries up Macbeth so they wouldn’t be caught. All of her guilt is being involuntarily shown in her

Lady Macbeth responds with, “We fail? / But screw your courage to the sticking place, / And we’ll not fail” (I. vii. 67-69). Lady Macbeth is confident that their plan will not fail but instead be successful, thus, ignoring Macbeths concern. Instead of taking Macbeths thoughts into consideration, she argues by saying “What beast was’t then / That made you break this enterprise to me” (I.vii.53-54). She feels that if Macbeth no longer wants to follow through with the plan, then he should not have agreed with her to begin with. Due to this, she becomes furious at Macbeth and ignores his opinion. Despite the precautions, Lady Macbeths decision to overlook them is what causes her to face the consequences of her distant relationship and also her hallucinations. Lastly, Lady Macbeth voluntarily hides the daggers that are used to murder the King and later on has hallucinations of the blood. While dreaming, Lady Macbeth sleep talks and says, “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! Oh! / Oh!” (V.i.43-45). The guilt from the murder is symbolized through the sight of blood on Lady Macbeth’s hands. Due to the sight of blood, Lady Macbeth tries to wash it off in her sleep, but fails. She hallucinates because she took the murder weapons of Duncan from Macbeth and hid them herself. The murder of Duncan negatively impacts the mindset of Lady Macbeth as she has hallucinations of such a horrid image but has no one

The sleepwalking scene is Lady Macbeth’s clear recognition of guilt. For example, she acknowledges the fact the dirt was literally on her hands when she speaks, “What, will these hands ne'er be clean?—No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that. You mar all with this starting.” (5.1.30-31) Lady Macbeth also recognizes that the crimes she had committed still lingers when she also expresses, “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!” (5.1.35-36).In The Hysteria of Lady Macbeth, Isador H. Coriat M.D. describes, “in the sleeping or somnambulistic state, the repression gives way to free expression and her innate cowardice becomes dominant. In her waking condition, she shows no fear of blood, but shrinks from it when in a state of somnambulism” (Coriat 75). The sleepwalking scene allows the audience to see that Lady Macbeth is aware of the grave crimes she has committed that were suppressed in her conscious state. Lady Macbeth reveals that she believes that she is guilty herself. She is accordingly guilty of murder just as Macbeth

Out, I say” (5.1.37). Lady Macbeth imagines her hands being covered with blood; she keeps rubbing her hands with the hopes to wash the blood away. The blood signifies her guilt as she wants the guilt to be cleared from her conscience. “Like Macbeth, she feels tainted by the murder, and she compulsively washes her hands in a vail effort to be clean and, therefore, innocent” (Nelson par. 8).

There is no physical presence of blood but her remorse is making her imagine blood on her hands. Lady Macbeth explains to her husband they need to get rid of all the witness on their hands immediately. Each night she is sleepwalking as well as running soap and water all over her hands to cleanse them. Lady Macbeth could not handle the guilt she has put upon herself so she turned to the only thing that would free her from this complex mess;

Although Lady Macbeth appears wicked and evil-hearted, Shakespeare’s use of blood imagery reveals her humanity. At the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth emerges as the mastermind behind the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth dabbles with the idea of murder in order to secure the title of king, but then vacillates and decides against it. Lady Macbeth is the one who ultimately changes her husband’s mind, encouraging and convincing him to commit the crime. In her conversations with Macbeth, she acts defiant and strong. When she is alone, however, Shakespeare paints her in a different light. After the messenger notifies her that King Duncan and Macbeth are fast approaching, she is seen praying to evil spirits, asking them to fill her with cruelty and “make thick (her) blood.” (Shakespeare I.5.42) By asking the spirits for help to fulfill the cold-blooded role she wants to play, Shakespeare implies that Lady Macbeth has a conscience. She would not be praying for cold-bloodedness if she was sure she could commit the

Furthermore, right after killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that “[her] hands are of [his] colour” (2.2.67-68), showing that she is as involved in this murder as Macbeth. Later, when she is hallucinating and confessing to the murders, she is constantly rubbing a spot on her hand, trying to get the blood off and says, “Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of / Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (5.1.44-45). Lady Macbeth’s repeated motif of blood suggests that she is plagued with guilt and fear of reality. The use of the word ‘still’ suggest that she has made the connection between what she had done and how it is

Macbeth’s guilt vanishes over time while Lady Macbeth’s feelings of guilt commence, forcing her to become a traditional woman. As Lady Macbeth’s feelings of guilt lead to her insanity, she falls into the expectations of women of her time. Women of her time are expected to maintain the family’s household and are limited to doing just that. Lady Macbeth begins to feel guilty after the murder of Duncan and she grows insane, to a point where she sleepwalks every night, confessing the murderous acts her and her husband commits. She walks around her castle unconsciously confessing her guilt, “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (5.1.53-55).

The gentlewoman speaks about Lady Macbeth’s continuous motion of washing her hands, and Lady Macbeth reveals more than she should about Macbeth’s actions. She screams, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean” (5. 1. 42). Lady Macbeth speaks about the blood on her hands from Duncan’s murder and how she should’ve never convinced her husband for committing the awful crime. She also ends her sleepwalking appearance by trying to go back to bed even though she’s filled with remorse. She persuades herself that, “What’s done is done” and goes off to bed (5. 1. 66).

Shakespeare's use of blood imagery is used to emphasize the guilt, and reversal of guilt, makes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have hallucinations. The first time Macbeth had hallucinations

In this she may think she is back after the murder, rubbing Duncan’s blood off of her hands. As she continues to rub her her hands, she becomes upset about an imaginary spot that won’t wash away: “Out, damned spot! Out, I say” (V. 1. 35). Lady Macbeth is being driven crazy by this imaginary blood that won’t wash off. Contrary to her original idea that water will wash away the deed, she is finally realizing what she has done and knows that no amount of water can wash away the guilt.

Even after the murder, Macbeth is still hallucinating by hearing voices saying, “Sleep no more!/Macbeth does murder sleep” (II.ii.34-35). He also sees blood on his hands which he says not even all the water in Neptune’s oceans could not wash away (II.ii.59-62). Macbeth’s guilt stays with him throughout the rest of the play, leaving his mind affected in a way that can only be helped by his partner in

The hallucinations he is having is caused by guilt which proves the theme guilt leads to insanity. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth go through similar cases where they feel guilt after their violent actions such as Macbeth's hallucinations of Banquo, or his guilt of

Just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. By the close of the play, her mind has disintegrated by guilt, now reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, as "Infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets" (5.1.26)While sleepwalking, Lady macbeth desperately tries to wash away an invisible bloodstain , Lady Macbeth has gone insane because she keeps seeing the blood stain that cannot be cleaned because“What’s done cannot be undone… my hands will never be clean”. (5.1.36 Lady Macbeth's conscience constantly haunts her by guilt and also keeps reminding lady Macbeth of her misdeeds, She continuously rubs her hand to get rid of the blood, which will never be washed away. Lady Macbeth’s incessant rubbing of her hands leads to insanity and eventually to suicide When Macbeth believed his hand was irreversibly bloodstained earlier in the play, Lady Macbeth had told him it can be cleansed. Now, however, she now too sees blood. Her mind is completely corrupted by guilt, as she becomes consumed into madness, as “hell is murky” She will be hopelessly tortured forever by guilt, “ (5.1.42) She eventually kills herself in the end, unable to kko with the haunting memories of her