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Macbeth's Sleep Deprivation Caused By Guilt And Fears?

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Is Lady Macbeth’s Sleep Deprivation Caused by her Guilt and Fears?

Would guilt, sleep deprivation, or anxiety cause Lady Macbeth to sleepwalk? My sister once slept walked and fell down our stairs. She woke up with no memory of the fall and was confused on why she was covered in bruises. Sleepwalking can occur for a number of reasons ranging from fears and trama to just being in a very deep sleep. In Macbeth many characters are haunted by their guilt and fears which leads to them sleepwalking. I decided to research the question: Would guilt, sleep deprivation, or anxiety cause Lady Macbeth to sleepwalk? I think Lady Macbeth sleepwalks throughout the play because of her mental health and guilt.

Most scientists think the cause of sleepwalking is because of fears, guilt and mental health. According to the National Library of Medicine; "Lady Macbeth presents a nocturnal dissociative episode with an altered state of consciousness, in which traumatic memories return, as a possible manifestation of post-traumatic stress disorder." (Gomes) In the play Lady Macbeth commits a …show more content…

Shakespeare made the marriage between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth very manipulative and controlling. As Lady Macbeth's walking and mental illness started to increase the relationship between the two of them decreased. According to Wendy Weisner; “Sleepwalking can strain relationships, especially the person or people with whom you share a sleep space or living space.” (Weisner) Corresponding to the article, after the murders, Macbeth's mental health also started to decline, making both spouses struggle. They both were focused on themselves and the things they were going through making their relationship fail. When Macbeth hears about his wife's sleepwalking he tried to get her help but soon realized it was caused by her own guilt and couldn't be cured. In the end of the play, Lady Macbeth takes her life leaving her husband struggling on his

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283 Words | 2 Pages

After Macbeth begins his murderous downfall, Lady Macbeth acquires excessive guilt in many ways. For example, sleeplessness (V.i) is evidence of Lady Macbeth's guilt. Lady Macbeth was sleep walking and trying to wash imaginary blood off her hands while sleeping. This exposes Lady Macbeth was in extreme denial over the murders of Macbeth’s victims.

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1304 Words | 6 Pages

However, the sleepwalking and Lady Macbeth believing her hands still have blood on them signifies that they will be forever punished for the crime they committed. She feels disillusionment and is unable to cope with the guilt that haunts her which ultimately results in Lady Macbeth killing

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207 Words | 1 Pages

While sleepwalking Lady Macbeth is performing actions. In addition to these actions, which were previously discussed, she is also saying speeches. These speeches are unusual and absurd, revealing Lady Macbeth’s guilt. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth does not feel guilty, and asks to get be rid of her femininity. However, after all she is a women as well as human.

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767 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth’s guilt and battle with mental illness begins early within the play: right after the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth, once a loyal sergeant in Duncan’s army, has killed the king in order to possess the throne of Scotland. This act of such extreme measures begins Macbeth’s descent into madness and insomnia. Immediately after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says, “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.”

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736 Words | 3 Pages

She gives up confidential information about what she and Macbeth have done. Lady Macbeth having all of these secrets and stress causes her to get some things off her chest while she is asleep “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.” (5.1.53-54). “Sleepwalking and sleeptalking are considered supernatural events in Shakespeare’s time” making this seem very scary, especially with what she says. The doctor is freaked out; the only thing he can prescribe to her is God.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

She loses the ability to sleep which corresponds with Duncan and everyone else who has been killed. Lady Macbeth is driven through an ongoing nostalgic moment before the wicked crime that leaves her unable to sleep. Her handwashing is an attempt to undo her actions which have caused her and Duncan to no longer be able to rest. (Watson). In Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene she becomes hysterical and speaks of the terrible things that she and Macbeth have done.

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623 Words | 3 Pages

In fact, “an excess of guilt is listed as a symptom in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (APA, 2013) for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders.” (Stroude 1) Having committed murders, it’s reasonable to assume that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth feel a considerably overwhelming amount of guilt, leading to PTSD and possibly other disorders. Although not officially listed as symptoms of each other in the DSM-5, Paranoia and PTSD are often diagnosed separately in the same people, meaning if someone has one of them, they're likely to have the other. Throughout the story, Macbeth becomes increasingly paranoid that someone will take the throne from him; therefore “they say, blood will have blood” (Macbeth 3.4.124).

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210 Words | 1 Pages

(Doctor 5.1). In this quote, Lady Macbeth is unable to sleep restfully because she lacks innocence. Clearly, after Lady Macbeth witnessed Duncan murdered, she is traumatized by the blood that was on her hands. Furthermore, the author includes the symbol of sleep to explore the implications of PTSD. This

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1525 Words | 7 Pages

Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking There are many adaptations of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, such as these two vaguely similar oil paintings which are representing the sleepwalking Lady Macbeth. Eugène Delacroix’s Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking (1849-1850) and Johann Heinrich Füssli’s Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking (1784) are two art works which are highly rely on the sleepwalking scene of Macbeth. These two works show the ambiguity and symbolism of darkness and light, fear and the consciousness of Lady Macbeth. In addition to Lady Macbeth’s fearful expression and tightly hold candle, the dark themed paintings suggest a deeper meaning of her chronic sleepwalking.

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1682 Words | 7 Pages

With a suspicious surrounding and a mentally collapsing husband, Lady Macbeth’s depression has only gotten worse. I have been sought out to assist with Lady Macbeth because of her worsening condition of depression.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

But since she was a major role in the murder, she had a lot of demons that came with her actions. Because of her guilt she started to sleepwalk and have hallucinations from the night of the murder. “Out damned spot, out, I say!” (V, i, 37) As someone who has slept walk before, I know that the causes of sleepwalking is from stress, a dramatic experience, or from an illness, and in Lady MacBeths cause she suffered from all three of those things.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

He is immediately filled with guilt directly after he kills Duncan and hears, “a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!/ Macbeth does murder sleep’-the innocent sleep” (II.ii.47-48). Macbeth’s fear that he will never be able to sleep again because he killed the king demonstrates his feelings of madness. Sleep is a symbol of peace, however, after he murders Duncan, he views sleep in a negative connotation. However, after he murders Banquo, Macbeth is able to put his worries aside, “and sleep in spite of thunder” (IV.i. 97). After committing two murders he is suddenly able to sleep and is no longer paranoid revealing a shift in character.

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

Many believe that Macbeth’s insomnia is closely related to the guilt he begins to carry throughout the play, and his guilt plays a big part in causing that insomnia or disturbed sleep of his. Macbeth is a slave to his insomnia. Lady Macbeth is also very disturbed and walks around in her sleep, trying to rub away the traces of her crime. Their consciences keep them awake to think about the sins they have committed and their thoughts constantly torture them until they confess. Therefore, insomnia can be a result of not only guilt but also multiple underlying psychological issues including anxiety

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1398 Words | 6 Pages

Sleep is one of the purest forms of altered consciousness however, traumatic experiences can impede one’s unconscious thoughts. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan and the guards, grief stricken and afraid. He tells his wife that sleep itself has been murdered and that nobody is immune his treachery (5.1.44). Macbeth’s crime is intensified by the act of murder being done at night and to sleeping rather than awake guards. The moment of guilt that Macbeth felt for his actions represents the hidden innocence behind the crimes.

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715 Words | 3 Pages

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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