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Motif Of Sleep In Macbeth

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In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the motif of sleep, a natural process, to demonstrate how the unchecked ambition for unnatural objects cause a loss of innocence. This is evident in Lady Macbeth's confession of her sinful acts and Macbeth's state of mind after Duncan's death. The motif of sleep occurs in the form of sleep talking when Lady Macbeth relives the moments when she plotted the death of Duncan and Lady MacDuff in order to acquire the throne. After Lady Macbeth gets a note from Macbeth that describes the witch's prophecies, she plots Duncan's murder and tries to muster the courage to execute her plan. Pleading in front of supernatural beings, Lady Macbeth begs, "Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood/ Stop up th' access and passage to remorse"(1.4.50-52). Lady …show more content…

The Macbeth's are not related to Duncan by blood, which means Macbeth is not the natural successor to the throne. Fearful of regret and "remorse" for her impending plans, Lady Macbeth begs the supernatural powers to make her blood "thick" to help her avoid the guilt that will succeed the ambition to acquire unnatural objects, in this case Duncan's throne. This unchecked ambition to a throne that was not rightfully theirs results in decades filled with guilt and a loss of innocence. Lady Macbeth often sleep talks- reliving conversations she had about the murders. During one such occasion, she laments, "Out, damned spot, out I say! One. Two./...The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is/she now?-What, will these hands ne'er be clean?"(5.1.37-47) Lady Macbeth views the blood "spot" on her hands as a source of guilt and remorse; her hands will "ne'er be clean." This loss of purity is matched with her loss of sleep. Sleep is seen as a symbol of rejuvenation - a symbol of inner peace, meditation and innocence. Although Lady Macbeth is

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“Out, damned spot, out, I say!” Lady Macbeth exclaimed as she walked down the hall in a deep sleep (Folger 163). In Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeth sleep walks down the hall as a gentlewomen and doctor observe what is happening. Ever since Macbeth went into the field, Lady Macbeth has begun sleep walking down halls and writing herself notes, reading them allowed, then going back to sleep. The gentlewomen called for a doctor because Lady Macbeth kept making the gestures of repeatedly washing her hands as she relived all the past horrifying occurrences Macbeth and her experienced.

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She states, “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.” Lady Macbeth’s obsession for power and her willingness to degrade and manipulate her husband make her a quite cruel

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Sleep imagery is representative of the paranoia and psychological anguish that one is consumed by when they seek to gain power through unethical means. In MacBeth, imagery of sleep or more so “lack of sleep” imagery is important as we see this insomnia as a psychological impact of committing an evil act for one’s own gain. We see MacBeth’s initial paranoia in Act 2 Scene 1 when he comes across the floating image of the dagger before he enters Duncan’s chamber and in his soliloquy says: “Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep.”

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The first way Macbeth shows this Motif is when Macbeth sees a floating dagger pointed at him. For instance when the narrator says, “Is this a dagger I see in front of me, with its handle pointing toward my hand? Come, let me hold you”(Act 2 Scene 1). What this means is that Macbeth had the drive to kill King Duncan in his sleep.

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Throughout the first two acts of Macbeth, the motif of sleep is portrayed through several opposing perspectives. We are first introduced to this recurring idea in the first scene, when the witches elect to meet Macbeth on the heath during the battle’s aftermath. The First Witch says that she will punish a woman by preventing her husband from sleeping on his voyage, declaring that “I will drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his pent-house lid;” (I.ii.18-20). The phenomenon in this scene is presented as an basic item that is to always be taken for granted, like clean water and shelter. If someone were to be denied the right to sleep, it would constitute torture.

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Flowers and nature are symbolic of Macbeth’s innocence, in act 1. Lines like “Look innocent like a flower, but be the serpent under it” (Lady Macbeth scene 5 lines 72-73)and “The air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses” (King Duncan scene 6 lines 1-2)show how innocent Macbeth is. The sweet air that is around Macbeth’s castle is a symbol of how sweet Macbeth appears. In the first act, Macbeth is a loyal subject of King Duncan. However, when he is told the prophecies by the witches he becomes the snake that Lady Macbeth tells him to be.

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From Macbeth feeling “drowned in blood”, to Lady Macbeth not being able to wash her hands, shows how guilt will always come from making bad decisions. One wrong choice can ruin a person's life

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With every story told there is good, through the play light is shown as good because of the light and dark motif. It is seen when Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking; with the stress of killing the king becomes so much that “she has light by her / Continually” (VI. i. 19-20). Consequently,

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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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In my humble opinion, the epitome of banality in stories tracing a protagonist’s guilt is when reenactments of their crime surface in nightmares. If it is in a novel, then the nightmare abstracts the original memory into symbols that buy time from the plot to decipher a past event in a different context. If it is in a movie, then I suppose the director and production staff sought an excuse to flex their computer-generated imagery skills and blast sound effects at pitiful eardrums. Regardless of the medium, I would argue that a lack of sleep causes a more profound effect on the protagonist than tormented sleep. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, killings progressively grow in ruthlessness and increase the toll on the perpetrator’s ability to sleep and relax.

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Lady Macbeth is calling to the spirits to assist her murderous ideations and to do that make her less of a women and more like man which will then fill her with deadly cruelty. This supports how she feels, about needing to be manly to commit these horrible

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Nathan Hugh Cameron Vanessa Dean English 31 January 2017 Macbeth & The Bible It has been said that Shakespeare wrote Macbeth for King James. King James was the man responsible for translating and printing the King James Bible. So after reading through some websites, the story, and some verses in the Bible; there are so many similarities. Shakespeare sets the scene for the murder of Duncan in a Garden-of-Eden like castle and presents us with a man and woman who have been tempted by devils to become like gods by murdering the reigning king. When they accomplish their “mission”, Macbeth hears a voice crying out that he has murdered sleep itself, that consequence of his sin, like Adam did in the Garden.

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This point is further reinforced when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (III.v.173). She is basically saying that Macbeth is acting strange and should get some sleep. Without sleep, Macbeth is degrading and losing his ability to function as a person, not to mention a king. Clearly, the word sleep plays an important role throughout the play Macbeth. It is used as a symbol for innocence and death, while the absence of sleep denotes an absence of rest and the presence of guilt and paranoia.

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1959 Words | 8 Pages

It makes her more ferocious than her masculine counterpart and hence her dominance over Macbeth. As well as she invokes the spirits to deprive her of feminism and make her as volatile as men, so that she can fulfill her dream of being the queen. Lady Macbeth is a bold and ambitious woman. She has implicit faith in herself. She wants to remove every obstacle in her pursuit of becoming the queen.

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Instead of going along with Macbeth’s new plans to murder more people, Lady Macbeth attempts to dissuade Macbeth, telling him that he “lack[s] the season of all nature, sleep,” trying to get Macbeth to go to bed as opposed to plotting and then carrying out his plans of murder (3.4.142). By trying to stop Macbeth from murdering more people, it is clear that despite wanting to be evil and feel nothing, her sense of guilt is too strong for her to

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