King Henry's Idea Of Sleep

King Henry provides a soliloquy about yearning for sleep. In his soliloquy, he asks sleep why it will not pay him a visit, and expresses his jealousy. The idea of a king's good night's rest is perpendicular to the Tragedy of Macbeth. In King Henry’s Soliloquy, he yearns for sleep. He says, “That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness?” (lines 4-5) In these two lines, King Henry is personifying sleep, and asking it the question of why he cannot sleep. Throughout his soliloquy, King Henry expresses his jealousy of others because they can sleep and he cannot. To stress King Henry’s jealousy, he continues to personify sleep and ask why he cannot sleep. In lines 23-27, King Henry asks, “Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose /To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude, / on the

In The Tragedy of Macbeth, King Duncan sleeps peacefully, which is drastically different than how King Henry sleeps, which is none at all. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, there is a continuous idea of sleep. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan to kill King Duncan in his sleep, and get his guards so drunk, they’ll be pinned with the murder, “When Duncan is asleep—/Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey/Soundly invite him—his two chamberlains/Will I with wine and wassail so convince/That memory, the warder of the brain,” (Lines 61-65, Act 1 Scene 7). In the play, everyone sleeps soundly. This is drastically different than King Henry’s Soliloquy, where he cannot sleep at all. The last line in King Henry’s Soliloquy is rather ironic in regards to The Tragedy of Macbeth, and their square ideals of sleep, “ Then, happy low, lie down!/ Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” (Lines 28-29) King Henry expresses how he cannot, and he will rest uneasily, which is a stark contrast to how King Duncan sleeps, which is sound enough for