Macbeth: Act 5

In the first scene of Act 5 there is a doctor and a woman watching Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth has developed a habit of sleepwalking. After the doctor hears Lady Macbeth recite some personal thoughts out loud, he decides it is her guilt that causes her to sleepwalk. The different quotes are all recollections from the different murders. Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh!” (206). “Wash your hands, put on your night-gown, look not so pale: I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave” (208). Both these references are made while Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking. She is trying to get out what has been bottled up inside of her. Her being in a sleepy state is the only way she was going to say anything at all. As the play has progressed, there have been short scenes featuring different lords who have talked about Macbeth and his kingdom. Each time their opinion of Macbeth has changed to say he is more and more crazy. This scene with Lady Macbeth sleepwalking confirms those thoughts of the surrounding lords. The quotes are about as good as a confession anyone would be able to get that her and her husband are responsible for all the murders that have taken place in the play.

Macbeth: Act 4

At the beginning of Act 4 Macbeth confronts the three Weird Sisters. As he is talking to them, they send him three apparitions that are meant to warn him of a coming doom. Upon the third one coming down, Macbeth simply says, “Thou shalt not live, That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, And sleep in spite of thunder” (164). He sees the visions as the warnings they are and decides he is going to kill Macduff before Macduff can kill him. At this point Macbeth has had a handful of people killed and shows no sign of remorse about killing more. This shows the vast change of Macbeth’s attitudes throughout the play. At the beginning he was mindful of other people and had a sense of guilt. Towards the end when this scene takes place, Macbeth has lost that sense and has become ruthless. This scene continues with Macbeth’s increasing savage nature.

Macbeth: Act 3

Act 3 brings about the death of Banquo. After Macbeth has Banquo killed, Macbeth starts to see his spirit. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are having a dinner party with lords and other respectable people. As Macbeth goes to sit down at the table, he sees Banquo’s ghost in his seat. He starts freaking out, screaming and frightened. In order to keep people from knowing about their horrible deeds, Lady Macbeth assures everyone that Macbeth does this all the time and they shouldn’t worry. She then turns to Macbeth and convinces him he hasn’t had enough sleep by saying, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (144). Lady Macbeth is essentially saying that Macbeth needs sleep in order to return everything in him to normal. Macbeth is obviously feeling great guilt and pain from the murders. The reason he appears so savage is that he has just had his friend killed, yet he continues on and simply goes to sleep that night.

Macbeth: Act 2

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth carry out their murder plot in Act 2. Lady Macbeth got the two guards drunk so Macbeth could enter the room undetected and murder Duncan. As Macbeth was stabbing him, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth heard strange noises. Lady Macbeth heard an owl screeching and crickets chirping. Macbeth, on the other hand, heard voices screaming at him. Macbeth’s act of murder becomes more savage due to the fact that he could hear someone yelling out his name and he murdered Duncan anyway. Macbeth recollected about the voices saying, “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’” (80). Macbeth continued on with, “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!’” (82). The two quotes (the voices) are trying to reach out to people in the house and get them to realize that Macbeth is killing the king while he sleeps. This frightened Macbeth greatly but it didn’t stop him from striking Duncan down in his sleep. The brutal side of Macbeth comes out here because the voices are saying what he is doing but he won’t stop the murder. He wants the crown bad enough to go against his own conscience (the voices) and kill Duncan.