Sleepwalking In Macbeth

Lady Macbeth’s strength of will persists through the murder of King Duncan as it is she who tries to calm Macbeth after committing the crime by declaring confidently that, “a little water clears us of this deed,” (2.2.67). Afterward, however, Lady Macbeth’s strong and ambitious character begins to deteriorate into madness. Her first sign of weakness occurred when she confessed that she could not have killed the king, revealing a natural woman’s feelings, “had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (2.2.13-14). Just as ambition has affected her before more so then Macbeth before the crime, the guilt plagues her now more effectively afterward as she desperately tried to wash away the invisible blood from her sin, “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfume of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,” (5.1.48-49). Lady Macbeth’s

Firstly, the person in Macbeth that was a serious victim of guilt was Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth went more insane than Macbeth even though she did not kill anyone. She was overwhelmed by guilt causing her conscience to see creepy fake illusions. The unnamed narrator insanity was caused by beating of the old man hideous heart and his evil eye, both characters use symbolism to symbolizes the malicious of both the old mans that ruined their lives. Lady Macbeth is scared when she sees her hands covered in blood, when Lady Macbeth did the murder she did not believe that it would harm her afterwards but it did which made her lose her mind. Lady Macbeth says “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One; two: why/ then ‘tis time to don’t. Hell is murky. Fie my lord, / fie! a solider and afeard? What need we hear who know/ it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who/ would have thought the old man to have had so much/ blood in him? (5.1 32-37). Lady Macbeth feels responsible for Macbeths insanity; with his insanity she also went insane. Lady Macbeth sleeps walks and starts washing her hands without water unconscious. The blood on her hand symbolizes her guilt and Duncan’s blood. She also feels like what she is going through is like Hell,

iv. 136-140). From this quote it can be inferred that Macbeth is concerned for himself because of all of the crimes that he is committed and is scared that people are coming after him. He has already stepped in the river of blood but cannot go back because he is already too deep and plans to continue farther. Holding the guilt of killing the most beloved King and the thought that people are coming after him, drives Macbeth to making poor decisions to protect himself and the use of blood helps the reader to see how insane Macbeth really is. Macbeth is not the only character in the play who goes insane because of guilt, his wife Lady Macbeth too goes insane with holding the guilt of ruining lives of innocent people. At one point she feels so guilty she begins to have hallucinations and even starts sleepwalking and talking. During the night when she was sleepwalking she tried to remove the blood that has stained her hands and becomes extremely paranoid that the blood is not coming off. It can be inferred that even though Lady Macbeth only helped to plan the murders she never actually kill someone, but she still carries the guilt as if she did. Shakespeare is trying to showcase with the motif of blood that no matter what type of crime is committed there is still guilt and

After the murder of Duncan, he delivers the bloody daggers to Lady Macbeth which in a way surprises her, and she ends up leaving them next to the guards, which makes it look like they were responsible for the murder of the loyal king Duncan. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth begins going crazy, constantly crying about the “blood” on her hands that will not come off. The blood symbolizes the guilt that she is encountering because she cannot clean her soul of what she has done, and even the doctor doesn't understand what is going on with her, they just think she is crazy. A few acts later it gets to the point where she eventually commits suicide, just because she was unable to deal with the guilt. (The Theme of Guilt). Several quotes throughout this play can help relate to the destruction that guilt causes. “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! – One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't, – Hell is murky! – Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? – Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (Macbeth, act 5 scene 1). This quote is showing Lady Macbeth being entrapped by the guilt of the murder, which causes her to sleep walk and talk about it in a sort of dull way every night. “But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail.” (Lady Macbeth, act 1 scene 7). Another quote by Lady Macbeth when she wanted Macbeth to continue on

Act 5, Scene 1 is the famous sleepwalking scene. While Lady MacBeth is sleepwalking she makes many references to the evil deeds that Macbeth and herself have committed, most of which include references to blood. In Act 5, Scene 1, Line 31, She goes through the motions of washing her hands saying "Out damned spot! Out, I say" in reference to the blood that stained her hands after smearing it all over the servants after assisting MacBeth in the treasonous murder of MacBeth. This also represents her guilt of the murder. In Act 5, Scene 1, Line 38 she makes another reference to the guilt saying, "What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" The last reference she makes to the blood being on her hands representing her guilt is in Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 44-45, "Here's the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this hand." All these references are to murder, death, treason, and guilt.

Lady Macbeth seems confident that they will not be caught nor feel any guilt because they will be lavished as king and queen. At first, she stated that water would wash the blood off of their hands, yet her guilt over the murder of one man was enough to drive her to insanity. Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and the doctor overhears her muttering to herself, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! What, will these hands ne'er be clean? (Act 5, Scene 1, Line 25, 31).” This quote shows that she never could escape the guilt of murdering sleep and it troubled her even during her slumber. After many sleepless nights, Lady Macbeth eventually commits suicide before the fall of Macbeth from power. Because of her tortuous last days and obvious regret, it is believed that Lady Macbeth was adequately punished for her actions.

Pg. 107 Guilt comes back to haunt those who commit unforgivable deeds. Therefore, in the play of Macbeth, Shakespeare uses different devices to convey the message that one should think of the consequences that will prevail before the deed is done. Shakespeare uses the literary device foreshadowing to show what consequence will arrive at the doorstep of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s gloomy home. He also uses motifs to show how guilt plasters itself upon the hands of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

With the sleep motif, the author has successfully showed Macbeth’s sense of guilt and feelings. Macbeth returns to his room and tells his wife about a strange voice that he heard after killed Duncan,“Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!/ Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep,/ Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,/ The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,/ Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,/ Chief nourisher in life’s feast”(2.2.47-51). Deep down inside Macbeth, he has the feeling of guilt because he murder

Sleep is a significant that everyone needs, and most want. Sleep is a necessity, just like the basic needs, and without it humans can’t properly function. The meaning of motifs and words are shown in the lines within writing, notably in Macbeth. Macbeth is a play that focuses around the main character Macbeth. Macbeth was portrayed as a strong and brave soldier and was Thane of Glamis. After a battle won, he and Banquo meets three witches who give them each three prophecies. The witches told Macbeth that he would be the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland. These prophecies gave Macbeth hope, but maybe too much hope. The prophecies led to unwise decisions and lack of sleep. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the word sleep has significance in developing the events and shaping each character. Lack of this word emphasizes the tense and dark mood, and displays the internal struggles of characters. It represents the guilt a character feels, and lastly reveals their loss of innocence. Sleep displays the struggles of characters and leads them into their insanity. Usually, sleep is described to be calm, relaxing, and rejuvenating. Although, when the characters start to question their own actions, sleep doesn’t become so innocent anymore. The word sleep in this play displays positivity and is wanted, although people who do not gain the desired sleep, nightmares occur, the loss of innocence of some characters, and the reappearance of horrific events are opened.

The blood that symbolizes Lady Macbeth’s guilt from murdering consumes her mind and body. In preparation for the killing, Lady Macbeth knows that she will feel guilt “And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood” (1.5.42-43). Before you know that Lady Macbeth kills anyone, you know she has guilt because she is saying she does not want to feel the pain of guilt which foreshadows her future. Lady Macbeth planned to kill Duncan but before she did the deed she was feeling guilty because she knew what she could not help but slowly lose her grip on sanity. Lady Macbeth becomes so terrified of her guilt that she begins to sleepwalk her guilt out, “Out, damned spot, out, I say!”(5.1.37). Guilt is represented as blood because it shows that she is

William Shakespeare’s play entitled Macbeth is a bloody tragedy about ambition, evil, guilt and moral corruption. The story emphasizes a lot on the consequences or aftermath of the bad deeds that Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth do and the growing impact it has on them in turn. Lady Macbeth a woman driven by her assertiveness, boldness, strength and ambition for her husband could not escape the guilt that eventually caught up to her and destroyed her. In Act 5 scene 1, Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and goes insane due to the guilt and remorse that finally catches up to her. This scene is the most important because it changes the reader’s view on Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as characters and it also

English playwright, William Shakespeare, begins the final act of his infamous tragedy, Macbeth, with an interesting and strange image of Lady Macbeth, just before her offstage death occurs. Shakespeare depicts Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, as light surround her, symbolizing her recognition of her wrongdoings, and her acceptance of her punishments to come.

Initially, she is a beguiling instigator of murder, and her first reaction to blood displays this nonchalant attitude. She tells Macbeth, “My hands are of your colour, but I shame / To wear a heart so white” (IIii 24). Lady Macbeth effortlessly washes off this blood with water, disregarding the guilt. Lady Macbeth’s second reaction to blood, however, exhibits shock over her husband’s free acts of cruelty. She sees the guards her husband has slain and faints. Covered in blood, the murdered guards underline Macbeth’s malice and cruelty. Therefore, when Lady Macbeth faints at the sight of these symbols, she makes obvious her change from plotting instigator to shocked observer. Blood continues to symbolize guilt, and eventually, just as Macbeth wants to remove blood from his hands, Lady Macbeth wants to cleanse her hands of blood and guilt. She visualizes a spot of blood on her hands and perpetually tries to wash it off. “Out, damned spot! out, I say!” (Vi 72). The stigma of guilt, however, cannot be removed, which reveals Lady Macbeth’s haunting, incurable guilt over the murders during Macbeth’s reign. Lady Macbeth continues in woeful guilt, saying “The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? / What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more / o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with / this starting” (Vi 72). She says her hands will never be clean, indicating that

One specific example of this happening in the play is Lady Macbeth waking up in the middle of the night and scrubbing her hands heavily, madly, and vigorously in her sleep despite the fact that there is nothing on them. Haunted by actions of killing, she symbolizes that no matter how much she tries, she can not escape the guilt that forever stains her bloody murderous hands,”Out, damned spout! out, I say! One: two: why, then ’tis time to do’t. Hell us murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to accompt? Yet who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?” (5.1 31-35). Guilt haunts Lady Macbeth. Her insanity kills. She loses. Another example of the build up of this guilt is earlier in the play when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to hide the fact that he has murdered the guards in, “I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on’t again I dare not” (2.4 51-52). Like the wicked, angered, and troubled side of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth feels regret for what he has done immediately once it hits

Blood itself—whether it be the color, smell, or simply the sight of it—can spur up some sort of feeling to any individual. Macbeth is a play where blood is constantly repeated in order to get a feeling out of the characters. Anytime blood is present, it gives the sense of a violent atmosphere and so, with blood being used frequently throughout the play, it shows how much the characters were involved in the killing spree; however they would eventually pay the price heavily. In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the reoccurring image of blood is utilized as a symbol to demonstrate the constant feeling of guilt felt by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, ultimately leading to their never-ending feelings of horror. For both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the guilt would eventually consume them until their deaths.