Motif+of+Sleep+in+Macbeth

by Kezia Thompson and Jean Kozyniak The motif of sleep, innocence, and guilt in //Macbeth// is important in showing how innocence and guilt can affect sleep and how losing one’s innocence can mean losing one’s ability to sleep also. When Macbeth murders King Duncan, a deed so unnatural, he loses all ability to sleep and, as the play progresses, sleep is used to represent the guilt and innocence (or lack of) in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
 * Sleep, Innocence, and Guilt Motif in Macbeth **

Our first glimpse of sleep as a motif in //Macbeth// is in Act 1, Scene 3 where we see the witches waiting for Macbeth’s arrival. The first witch tells the other witches about how she played with the sea captain. She mentions that she will see to it that he doesn’t dock for a very long time and while he is stuck on the ship, she will make sure he doesn’t sleep. “Sleep shall neither night nor day.” This shows that the witches use sleep as a way to curse people and haunt them, and that a lack of sleep can be caused from evil.

We next see sleep used a motif right before Macbeth murders Duncan in Act 2, Scene 1. The sleep motif is used as a form of foreshadowing. On the night of Duncan’s murder, Banquo tells Fleance that he is unable to sleep. “A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, and yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in repose.” Banquo is concerned about the witches’ prophecies and he can sense wickedness in the air, which prevents him from sleeping peacefully. His inability to sleep is a sign that something terrible is going to happen. Soon after, Macbeth murders Duncan and he is overcome with guilt. He is distracted and mentally suffering. “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,’ ... Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house. Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.” He describes sleep as “innocent” and “sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care” – both of which Macbeth has lost because of his sinful deed. Sleep is essential to the mind, as it’s the only time the mind can relax. By killing Duncan, Macbeth has also destroyed his ability to sleep, as only the innocent can enjoy sleep.

In act three scene two we see how Macbeth’s guilt for committing the evil murder of Duncan has changed him. Macbeth is very troubled and cannot sleep because he lost his innocence when he murdered Duncan and his mind is tormented with guilt, “…sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly”. Meanwhile, Duncan sleeps well, “after life’s fitful fever he sleeps well”, and Macbeth is in “restless ecstasy”. This oxymoron of unsettled happiness shows the motif of guilt. This is because he has everything that he ever wanted but cannot enjoy it, since in murdering Duncan he disrupted the great chain of being and does not deserve his role as king. Shakespeare shows that a corrupt crime can only leave the mind unsure and unable to rest.

A significant part of this motif is how it is used to show the insanity of Macbeth. For instance, in act three scene four when at dinner with other lords, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, “the time has been that when the brains were out, the man would die and there an end. But now they rise again”. Macbeth is seeing Banquo’s ghost because of his lack of sleep, which is causing him to become unhinged but more importantly because of is lack of guilt. As, he has just been told of Banquo’s murder yet is showing no remorse or regret for someone he once considered a friend. Through Macbeths loss of innocence he also lost his humanity and because of this saw Banquo as an obstacle that had to be overcome.

In act five scene one, we see the effects that the murders have had on Lady Macbeth. Because of her guilt, she has lost her peace and is unable to sleep and is instead sleepwalking, “a great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching”. Her guilt is also shown in her hallucinations of a spot of blood on her hands, with the blood tormenting her as her guilt torments her. “Out damned spot, out I say!” and no matter how hard she tries cannot be removed, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean”. The spot of blood represents her guilt which shows that her evil deed is on her conscience and that the crime of murder carries a guilt that she will never be able to be cured of, “What’s done cannot be undone…. Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles”. Eventually Lady Macbeth’s unending guilt leads her to commit suicide.

In //Macbeth//, the sleep, innocence, and guilt motif is important. It symbolises the guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth succumb to after performing treacherous deeds. It also shows how the guilt that one feels can lead to the inability to sleep and, eventually, to function.

__ The Motif of Sleep in ‘Macbeth’ __

By: Ninavah Shemon and Homasa David.

In Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, there are many motifs that help the reader to understand the themes and ideas in the play, one of which is sleep. The motif of sleep, or more importantly the lack of it, expresses the guilt of the characters. In this play, sleep shows the characters’ innocence; therefore, the lack of sleep shows their guilt. Macbeth thinks he can easily commit treason to gain power and happiness. However, he is haunted by his actions and quickly finds out that having all the power means nothing if he isn’t happy. //“Nought’s had, all’s spent, / Where our desire is got without content.”//

// ‘He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev’nights, nine times nine, Shall he dwindle, peak and pine’ // In Act 1 scene 3 the third witch tells her sisters about how she cursed a woman’s husband for revenge. She controlled the direction of the wind and she will keep the husband’s eyes from closing in sleep “sleep shall never night nor day hang upon his penthouse lid.” The third witch is foreshadowing future events to come involving Macbeth’s actions and plans; it is this scene that portrays the motif of sleep as an important idea in the play. Shakespeare uses this scene to sets up the motif of sleep.

In Act 2 scene 2 Banquo is restless and is incapable of sleeping, although he very much desires to sleep: //‘A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose!’// (Act 2 scene 1 lines 4-9). This is foreshadowing the event of Duncan’s murder, which will leave the rest of the castle restless and unable to sleep after his murder. This scene is aimed at Macbeth and his wife, who will in time feel terribly guilty for their actions, despite becoming King and Queen of Scotland.

// ‘It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep’ // (Act 2 Scene 1 lines 48-51). Prior to murdering King Duncan, Macbeth is distraught. Macbeth refers to the world that Duncan is living in now, the half-world, the world of sleep, in which nature appears to be dead. This foreshadows the idea that Macbeth will eventually be effected by these “wicked dreams” after he kills Duncan.

// ‘There’s one did laugh in’s sleep, and one cried “Murder” That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them. But they did say their prayers and addressed them Again to sleep’ // (Act 2 Scene 2 lines 22-25). As a consequence to murdering Duncan, Macbeth becomes strictly paranoid. He thinks he hears someone crying “Murder!” while they were sleeping. Macbeth’s paranoia is important because it is what later on leads Macbeth to kill others in his plot. In order for him to maintain the throne, he kills others to disguise his lies and prevent others from taking it from him. This paranoia is a result of excessive ambition to become king, which Shakespeare shows is unhealthy.

// ‘Still it cried “Sleep no more!” to all the house; “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more! Macbeth shall sleep no more!’ // (Act 2 scene 2 lines 41-43). These voices or hallucinations, however, are important because they reveal more about what Macbeth thinks of the situation. He believes he has murdered innocent sleep, as if sleep is an innocent child. Macbeth has cursed himself by “killing” sleep, forcing him to never be able to sleep again. In this case, Macbeth will be unable to sleep because he is worried by nightmares and frightening dreams brought on by Duncan’s death. Macbeth’s innocence is gone. This is symbolised by his inability to sleep.

In act 2 scene 2, just after Macbeth murders Duncan, Macbeth has a premonition that tells him he will no longer be able to sleep. //“No more sleep! Macbeth does murder sleep.”// Here, Macbeth has just made the biggest sin that anyone can make by killing the king, and won’t be able sleep because of his overwhelming sense of guilt. Sleep is when the mind is able to rest, be cured of its mental pain and cleansed of its guilt. //“…The death of each day’s life sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds…”//.However, Macbeth cannot sleep and we are able to see how his actions have affected him.

Macbeth says that he would rather be dead then go through this torture of sleeplessness. He killed Duncan for his own happiness and peace but now it seems that Duncan, even when dead, is much happier than him and is sleeping well. //“On the torture of the wind to lie in restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave; after his fitful fever he sleeps well.”// Macbeth thought that by killing Duncan and stealing his title, he would be happy and at peace. However, later he regrets it because he is being tortured by guilt. //“Better be with the dead, whom me, to gain our peace, have sent to peace.”// In this quote Macbeth is saying how by them trying to gain peace, they sent Duncan to his own peace.

In act 3 scene 4, not only does Macbeth feel guilty for killing Duncan, but also for ordering the death of his best friend, Banquo. When Macbeth freaks out at the banquet after seeing Banquo’s ghost sitting in his seat, everyone becomes suspicious of him. Lady Macbeth tries to cover up his insanity by telling him all he needed was to sleep. //“You lack the season of all natures, sleep.”// In this quote we see sleep as something necessary and natural, that Macbeth cannot get and a little sleep isn’t going to rid Macbeth of his guilt. It is quite ironic that Lady Macbeth is the one covering up his insanity as she is the one that ends up committing suicide because of her sleepwalking. Lady Macbeth is one of the characters that change a lot in this play. She goes from being the dominant and controlling one, to being driven to insanity by guilt. In act 5 scene 1, the doctor has come to cure Lady Macbeth from this ‘illness’ but he can see that her healing is beyond his power. //“More needs she the divine then the physician.”//

The motif of sleep in Macbeth plays a significant role in the framework of the play. Sleep symbolizes innocence, and the lack of sleep symbolizes guilt and loss of innocence. Throughout the play we see the Macbeth’s guilt develop through lack of sleep, eventually leading to serious torment and death.