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Macbeth Death And Sleep Analysis

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Sleep is a peaceful comfort. It is a way for a person to escape the reality of life for a moment. Death however is not a comfort or an escape from reality. Death is the end. Most people see sleep and death as to similar entities. However, sleep and death could not be further apart. Sleep is an escapism from life to seek comfort in your dreams. While death is quite the opposite. There is no comfort in death, no dreams to dream about. Death is the end. In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare Sleep and death are constantly being juxtaposed. Death and sleep are two different ideas however when one is dead they can often be mistaken as sleeping. "Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, / And look on death itself!" (Shakespeare 2.3.76-77). Macduff explains that although sleep and death may look similar, real sleep is relaxing, while real death is a horror that cannot be thought about. The idea behind closing one’s eyes can be considered death or sleep, as one is lived in and the other is not living.
Sleep is the way to build comfort for yourself, while death only comes with not being able to exist in the world. Sleep is seen as peaceful, wonderful, a way to just relax the mind and send your cares away. Sleep relieves the pressure of a hard …show more content…

Death is endless, awful, there is no peace in death only despair. Death takes away the peace one feels when they are sleeping. Sleep is the comfort of life while death is the end of life. “When in swinish sleep, Their drenched natures lies as in a death, what cannot you and I perform upon th’ unguarded Duncan?” (1.7.77-80) Lady MacBeth’s plan to kill Duncan is to kill him in his sleep. Killing Duncan in his sleep drains the peace from him and MacBeth, so they will go to hell. Sleep, unlike death, is a necessity that brings peace to any individual who seeks comfort. While comparing these two subjects, they are opposites in ways that can be described as good vs

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In Shakespeare’s Elizabethan tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes the motifs of blood and sleep to demonstrate the effects of murder ultimately illustrating the power of guilt. The play begins with the three witches telling Macbeth a prophecy that he will one day become king. With this information, Lady Macbeth plots the murder of Duncan for her husband—who is anxious—to become king. However, they realize there are more people in the way, and they start killing more and more people. Malcolm and Macduff see what’s going on and flee to England to think of a plan to get rid of Macbeth.

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In As I Lay Dying, Darl is constantly questioning his existence and the existence of everyone around him. In one of the chapters narrated by Darl, he is reflecting on sleep and the existence. He says, "And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, you are not" (80). In this passage, we can see how Darl is questioning sleep and the meaning of existence as well as comparing sleep with death.

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Macbeth begins to go insane after he murders King Duncan at the beginning of the play. Although he did it for a gain of power, he still feels very guilty. Macbeth starts saying weird things about what he heard, “Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!” to all the house. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more.

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Prevention from a peaceful slumber develops as a result of the immorality of her crimes being suppressed until it breaks her sanity and seeps into her dreams. Finally, guilt induces feelings of despair in Lady Macbeth so potent it causes her to take her own life. “The queen...is dead” (5.5.16) because she was not able to “minister to [herself]” (5.4.47). Depression bubbling inside of the queen becomes too much for her to bear alone. Regardless of this, she continues to harbour these emotions until she could endure no more and commits suicide.

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The word “sleep” is used throughout Macbeth with various connotations. One of the ways to interpret Shakespeare's use of “sleep,” is as a symbol of innocence. This symbolism is used repeatedly in concerns to Duncan and his murder. When Lady Macbeth is unable to kill Duncan, she explains, “Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done’t”

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