Examples Of Hallucinations In Macbeth

In the play it is shown that Macbeth has hallucinations and that they are triggered, unusually, by the guilt he has toward committing the murder of King Duncan. It makes me question what is real and what is a hallucination Macbeth is having. Also it makes me wonder what is causing these images to come to him. They are usually in direct relation to the murder he has committed. The hallucinations he has seem real in the moment, but then leave him confused. In the beginning of Act II he is returning to Lady Macbeth holding the daggers that he used to commit the murder even though he and Lady Macbeth and formed a thought out plan that he had seemingly just forgotten about. He was able to tell his wife what he heard upon the time of killing

and she responds in a way that makes Macbeth seem weak and incapable of committing murders. In Macbeth Act II, scene ii, William Shakespeare uses symbolism to emphasize the guilt Macbeth has over this act, and how it affects his reality.
The symbols of sleep are used to show how beneficial it is for a normally functioning person and how Macbeth feels about sleep.

“The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds,” (Page 3 Lines 38-39) It is shown that sleep is what cleanses a person of the day they had and without sleep they would not be able to get rid of feelings from the day or start a new day as if it were a fresh start. The voice he had heard and described to lady Macbeth has the possibility of being a side effect of the guilt he felt from killing Duncan and that he will not be able to sleep to erase the memory from his conscious. “I’ll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not.” (Page 3 Lines 51-53) He wants to be able to forget the deed and pretend as if it had never occurred and it as if he previously described how he may be able to rid himself of that thought by having a night of sleep. However, the voice he heard told him the words “Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house.” (Page 3 Line 41) Meaning that sleep would come to no one in the house and there is no way for him to clear his mind of that day and start a new another day because this is now an endless day

essentially.
The murder of the King was able to bring so much guilt to Macbeth that it began to make him crazy, and seem weak in the eyes of Lady Macbeth, it is all shown through symbolism. It seems as if the emphasize put on the idea of sleep, what it does for a person and how it is needed for a regular person to function, seems to make it feel as if it will be a factor in the remainder of the play. Shakespeare purposely could have chosen sleep as the thing to begin messing with the mind of Macbeth, who is now considered a killer, because sleep is something anyone can relate to. It is a symbol that someone reading would be able to feel what it is rather than imagine. In a way it was showing his initial reaction and then his conscious’ initial reaction. The symbols represented are meant to be seen in a negative light because of their connections to the murdering of Duncan.