Sleep, it is hard to live with it constantly robbing most people of about a third of their day, but it’s even harder to deal with the consequences of insomnia. We have all had a time where we couldn’t quite fall asleep one night, but for Macbeth this is a constant issue and in his waking hours he has to deal with this guilt that he has brought upon himself by murdering king Duncan. Insomnia causes a variety of problems in the victim to lose focus, impair social interactions, and other similar issues that ultimately hurt the victim or in Macbeth’s case he is the victim of his own decisions. Insomnia causes unimaginable issues for Macbeth in Macbeth; insomnia causes Macbeth to become isolated, to make thoughtless decisions and ultimately succumb to madness.
Due to Macbeth’s insomnia he becomes isolated from society. Macbeth’s isolation is demonstrated clearly in Macbeth after he murders Duncan and anxiously states, “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” (Shakespeare 2.2.40-42). This is the start of Macbeth’s issues because if he had never murdered Duncan, he could have avoided all the issues to come and immediately he feels picked out because a voice named him specifically and damned him to insomnia. This matters because Macbeth becomes so distraught over the murder of Duncan and almost like a deer in headlights, he is going to get hit because he’s unable to move, but he will not know when his misery will finally be over. “Shakespeare’s metaphor for sleep as the death of each day’s life had a deeper significance than first meets the eye.”(Delany 209) For Macbeth this means that the day that he murdered Duncan will not...
... middle of paper ...
...d until the late hours of the night. Macbeth is a true example of the complications of insomnia and shows that while most people hate sleep because it robs them of precious time it’s even harder to deal with the complications of insomnia.
Works Cited
Delaney, Bill. "Shakespeare's MACBETH." Explicator 63.4 (2005): 209-211. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.
Johnson, G. "`ON THE EDGE OF AN ABYSS': THE WRITER AS INSOMNIAC." Virginia Quarterly Review 66.4 (1990): 643-655. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 4 Feb. 2010.
Kinsella, Kate. Prentice Hall Literature Timeless Voices Timeless Themes: the British Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. 300-388. Print.
McIlvaine, Robert. "A SHAKESPEAREAN ECHO IN "THE TELL-TALE HEART." American Notes & Queries 15.3 (1976): 38.Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 5 Feb. 2010.
After Macbeth committed a dreadful crime at the start of the play, he realizes that by killing even more people he can get what he wants whenever he wants. Macbeth reaches a point where he is too busy fulfilling his own ambitions that he was not fulfilling his obligations as king. “Those he command move only in command, / Nothing in love…” (5.2.22-23). His obsession with power caused him to murder his good friend Banquo, and Banquo’s son. Macbeth’s out of control ambition has caused him to lose his emotion. He progressively sta...
Macbeth suffers from lack of sleep which is one symptom of bipolar disorder ("Bipolar Disorder Symptoms - Mayo Clinic"). Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, “you lack the season of all natures, sleep” (3. 4. 140). This shows that she is worried that he is not getting enough sleep and that it is causing him to act strange. Macbeth starts hallucinating, seeing Banquo’s ghost, and screaming and shouting at it and disrupting the banquet. Lady Macbeth tries to save his image by telling the guests, “I pray you speak not. He grows worse and worse, question enrages him. At once good night. Stand not upon the order of your going, but
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Element of Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 300-382. Print.
Macbeth’s capacity for suffering also leads him to be a tragic hero. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth has a personal moment of truth and thinks about what he is going to do. He imagines the dagger in his hand and thinks about the nightmares he will be invaded with. Macbeth is so obsessed with murder; he begins seeing things, and must be quiet and not wake anyone, for he would give himself away.
Macbeth is describing sleep as a wonderful thing. It gives you energy and nourishes you like food from a feast.
Macbeth’s guilt scratched at his well being. His own mind is on self-destruct and will not allow his to do one of life's most basic tasks; sleeping. Macbeth recognizes that Duncan was innocent and it is bringing him great psychosis. Driven by the mania that the weird sisters and their even stranger prophecies have caused, Macbeth then chooses to hire a murderer to make Banquo and Fleance his next casualities. This action is the straw that breaks the camel’s back; Macbeth becomes completely tortured by his own guilt and his blood stained hands drive him into isolation and madness.
Columbia University, Press. "Macbeth." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. History Reference Center. Web. 6 Nov. 2011.
So she stressed so much she slept a walk, which brings on insomnia. Lastly, Lady Macbeth disease didn’t have a cure for it at the time. In the movie, the doc said it was out of his practice. Lady Macbeth went through a lot after she lost control over Macbeth. Some may say they got drunk with power, which is another way of saying they let power get to their heads.
Macbeth feels a great deal of remorse after he has killed the king. He understands that he has committed a sin and will be punished. He is so terrified that he hears voices telling him:“ Macbeth does murder sleep, … , Macbeth shall sleep no more”(Act 2, Sc.2 p. 57). Macbeth is very upset with himself and wishes that he never killed Duncan. “To know my deed it were best not know myself.” When he hears strange knocking at the gate he wishes that it wakes up Duncan, “wake Duncan with thy knocking”, however it is too late (Act 2, Sc.3 p. 61).
A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders. He killed his best friend Banquo out of fear and he senselessly murdered Macduff’s family. The hallucination of Banquo’s ghost is a representation of Macbeth 's guilt, all of Macbeth’s guilt is manifested in the ghost. Macbeth states that he feels guilty because of the murders. “Ay, and since too, murders have been performed Too terrible for the ear.” (III, iv, 80-81) Seeing the ghost of Banquo is the breaking point for Macbeth. The ghost also causes him to think more irrationally which leads to the murder of Macduff. Also, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is full of regret and guilt. The voices he hears reflect his mental state. “Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!” (II, ii, 35) His innocence was killed and he knows that he has to live with this guilt for the rest of his life, hence Macbeth will never sleep peacefully ever again. After each successive murder, Macbeth becomes more and more inhumane. “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o 'er.” (III, iv, 143-145) Macbeth claims that after committing a murder, there is no turning back. He killed his best friend due to his ambition and fear. The third murder was outright moralless and unnecessary, he compulsively killed Macduff’s wife and children. Macbeth shows no remorse in his murders, he becomes an absolute monster towards the end of the play. As Macbeth loses his human morales, hallucinations appear to remind him of the sins he
Next we see this theme again when Macbeth says "Me thought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep," the innocent sleep"(II.ii.64-66). Here again we see Macbeth is starting to hear voices and he is starting to go a little crazy. Here is where things really start to head downhill, and they go down fast. Because of Macbeth’s ambition for king he has killed the current king. Now he thinks he is hearing voices that keep him from getting his sleep. And as we will later see, Macbeth will eventually die due to his over eager ambition to become the new king. The event of killing the king will set into play a whole chain of events that will soon show the downfall of Macbeth from his short lived thrown.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Elements of Literature, Sixth Course. Ed. Kristine E. Marshall, 1997. 300-312. Print.
Lady Macbeth tries to encourage her husband to kill King Duncan by questioning his manhood. However, after committing the murder, Macbeth suffers from stress, worry and lack of sleep. He is stressed about the fact that his wife is going insane. He is worried at some point that someone might get suspicious about how Macbeth got to seize the throne.
... lost conscience. Soon deteriorated to nothing, and his killings are numerous. We know that at the beginning he saw three witches but we do not know if that could be Macbeth hallucinating, that he has been seeing things since then because he was that ambitious of a man. We may not know if it was real therefore I will name Macbeth charged for First degree murder because Macbeth's change from human to killer is his own doing. He allowed the evil that is within everyone to overwhelm him. His ambition and need for power put him through a transformation from hero to killer.