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Macbeth's Ability To Sleep Analysis

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Macbeth begins as a audacious soldier with a good, clear conscience. Macbeth’s ability to sleep symbolizes his clear conscience. As the plot unfolds, Macbeth’s conscience becomes disturbed and he experiences the inability to sleep. Macbeth's sleeplessness is a result of his anxiety and shame. After Duncan is killed, Macbeth hears a voice cry, "'Glamis hath murdered sleep,' and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more" (II.ii.45-46). Macbeth feels that the only way to make his anxiety and shame disappear is to kill anyone who threatens his kingship, so his conscience begins to believe that killing people is ethical. Near the end, Macbeth realizes that he has "almost forgot the taste of fear" (IV.iv.9). By murdering so

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