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Use Of Sleep In Macbeth

994 Words4 Pages

Justin Allen
Mr. Via
English World Literature Honors
February 25, 2023
Shakespeare’s Use of “Sleep” in Macbeth (option #3) Throughout the play of Macbeth, the characters initially seem to be in a state of success after the victory of Macbeth against Macdonwald, where Macbeth is depicted very highly. After Macbeth is told a prophecy by the witches that he would be king and Duncan chooses Malcolm to be the heir to the throne, the demise of Macbeth was initiated which led to Duncan’s death and many more. A motif that Shakespeare uses that is an important underlying theme in this play is the idea of sleep. When the characters have problems sleeping, more problems begin to occur. Sleep is defined in this play as a sign of peace, stability, and …show more content…

While Macbeth changes in a negative direction and becomes more violent to get what he wants, Lady Macbeth appears to be doing the opposite, starting from having the desire to be filled with direst cruelty to trying to rub the spot out of her hand from Duncan’s murder even though she did not actually kill him. The first sign of her change was when she attempted to persuade Macbeth to not kill any more people after Duncan since he is now king, but Macbeth refused to tell her of his plans to kill Banquo. After Macbeth successfully sends people to kill Banquo, he sees Banquo’s ghost at the coronation feast which causes his guests to leave. Lady Macbeth responds by saying, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (III, 4). Her solution to Macbeth’s madness was sleep, which temporarily fixes the situation and causes him to think rationally by going to talk to the witches the next day to figure out what is going on and what will happen in the future. The primary downfall of Lady Macbeth was from the guilt that was depicted in her disturbed sleep through her sleep-walking episodes where she would try to remove the spot off of her hands, which represents the death of Duncan. This shows that sleep directly affected her mind and disturbed the peace that once existed there prior to the start of the …show more content…

The prophecy of the witches not only affected Macbeth but also messed with Banquo, who was much more skeptical of the witches and warned Macbeth not to get involved as it might bring them against each other. Banquo later told Macbeth that he was having strange dreams of the witches to which Macbeth replied that he does not think about them. After the death of Duncan, Banquo feared that Macbeth took the throne through foul play because of this prophecy, but continued to remain friends with him and go to his coronation feast. Unfortunately, Macbeth betrayed him by hiring people to murder him and they succeeded. Even though Banquo was a loyal and trustworthy character, the power of the prophecy from the witches eventually affected his sleep, but he was able to keep a sound mind which gave him an advantage over Macbeth in resisting evil, although he was still killed. Banquo also can also be compared to a common Latin phrase called “status quo”, meaning existing state, where Banquo continues to remain consistent in who he is by not letting the prophecy of the witches get the best of him or his

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