Macbeth Does Murder Sleep Analysis

Throughout Macbeth as Macbeth attempts to claim and secure the throne for himself, he must sacrifice pieces of his humanity. As each piece of his humanity is sacrificed Macbeth becomes less and less stable. Macbeth begins to lose his grip on reality, hallucinating the ghosts of men he has killed, and hearing the never ceasing voice of guilt causing his personality to drastically change for the worse.
Immediately upon the murder of king Duncan Macbeth begins to hear voices scolding him for what he has done. Upon returning to his wife, Macbeth states “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’” (Shakespeare) Thus beginning the downward spiral of Macbeth’s mind. From this line, it is indicated that Macbeth is no longer able to sleep at night, kept up by the nightmares of what he has done. The detrimental effect of this is seen at the banquet

for Macbeths coronation where he appears as a ghost of his former self, his mind in a different more hellish world than his body.
Because of the incessant torment of Macbeth’s mind a new much more cruel and mad Macbeth is born. Since Macbeth had betrayed his highest morals all his other morals seemed to fall with it. When this combines with Macbeth’s growing paranoia leads him to do things he would have never even considered doing before he killed King Duncan. Macbeth’s paranoia causes him to be cruel in ways he wasn’t even intending; his obsession over not being usurped causes him to neglect the people and use country resources for his protection.
Macbeth’s sanity goes from horrible to essentially nonexistent when he attempts to solve his sanity issues.

Macbeth believes that if he can just get rid of Banquo and his son, he won’t have to worry anymore about having the crown stolen from him; however, the act of having a loyal friend and his child murdered causes Macbeth to lose what little stability his mind had left. It’s at this point where Macbeth begins to see the ghost of Banquo which haunts and torments him. When Macbeth visits the witches to see if the prophesy has changed Macbeth is confronted with the truth, he finally breaks leaving no trace of the original Macbeth behind.
Macbeth illustrates how not every villain has to be some powerful mastermind, the greatest villain can be our own minds and our own ambition. Macbeth is trapped on the slope of madness every move he makes to climb up only makes him fall faster. The tragic downfall of a character with such honor and nobility really brings the lives of the audience into perspective, bringing about meaningful introspection to make it a play that will truly stick in the audience’s

mind.