Examples Of Sleep Imagery In Macbeth

1989 Words4 Pages

Mee Jung Ko
Laura Zink
English 17A
19 March 2016
Sleep Imagery in Macbeth There are different opinions on what caused Macbeth’s inevitable tragedy - some believe that Macbeth was under the influence of fate and uncontrollable external forces that unfortunately left him as a victim of outside influences. Others speculate that Macbeth brought misfortune on himself by willing such fate to become true, and that he himself was to blame as he acted based on his personal objectives and forethought, freely. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s repetitive references to sleep imagery makes it irrefutable that fate is in fact a self-fulfilling prophecy carried out by Macbeth and his wife. The domino effect of their catastrophic actions begins from the witches’ …show more content…

Shortly after Macbeth’s hallucination, Macbeth kills King Duncan. Lady Macbeth approaches him and finds Macbeth horrified of committing the murder and finishes the entire scheme by pretending to be shocked when Duncan’s dead body is discovered. Macbeth claims that he thinks someone heard him kill Duncan …show more content…

He becomes the murderer that kills “the innocent sleep”. He sounds desperate as he knows that what he done cannot be undone - sleep represents innocence that cannot be brought back. The personified image of murdering sleep is like murdering a human being. Macbeth uses the word murder to personify sleep which refers to his killing of Duncan, and also his own future sleep and rest that he has lost by committing this murder. While Macbeth knows that sleep is something wonderful as it “knits up the raveled leave of care”, it is like a bath after great labor, and a healing source for “hurt minds”, he has murdered it because he believes that he is controlled by fate. Sleep is described not just as a natural and routinely act; in fact it is something that is so necessary and magnificent as it is what a human being needs in every condition, whether that be for the laborer or people with worries and pain. Macbeth believes that sleep is something wonderful and yet he is still willing to give that up in order to fulfill the prophecy. It could have been possible for Macbeth to become king in the future if he was indeed destined to take the throne. He describes all the joys in life, and complains that he has lost it after the murder, as he was acting to fulfill the witches’ prediction. This shows that he had a choice of not murdering Duncan as he knew the cost of his act; yet he risked losing everything

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