sleep

779 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The theme of sleep in Macbeth

“Sleep is the best meditation” –Dalai Lama. This idea of sleep as being peaceful and calm is nowhere to be found is Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. The normally accepted belief of sleep being associated with relaxation is reserved. Peaceful sleep is disturbed by horrific deeds that occur at night. From the night, one will see that sleep imagery shows acts of unnaturalness. By examining Shakespeare’s image of sleep, one can determine that sleep reinforces the idea of evil. Throughout the play the conventional idea of sleep as being a calm, restful time is switched around to demonstrate evil. When Macbeth is just about to murder Duncan in his sleep one sees his sleep is going to be disturbed. “Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.” (Shakespeare 41) “Nature seems dead,” shows that Macbeth is feeling guilt already, not just about him killing King Duncan, but that with the murder, he is killing everything else of the country. “The curtained sleep” is saying that your sleep should be private and peaceful, like you are behind a curtain, being hidden from everyone else. This sleep is not peaceful though because it is being disturbed by the wicked dreams. Macbeth is picturing the deed he is about to perform as a nightmare, giving sleep an evil feel. The sleep of Macbeth is also being disturbed by his killing of Duncan. After Macbeth murders King Duncan, his consequences are that is sleep is being disturbed. “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.” (Shakespeare 45) As we see from this quote, Macbeth is starting to go crazy from his loss of sleep. The disturbance of his sleep is staring to disturb him physi... ... middle of paper ... ... sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly. Better be with the dead whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace than on torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy. “(Shakespeare 75) From this quote we see that Macbeth believes that death is peaceful and sleep is evil. Sleep is tortuous and is abused by wicked dreams making death the better option. It is unnatural to prefer to be dead over sleeping, and to have thought that about sleep shows his inner evil. Throughout the whole play one would come to realize that sleep highlights the ideas and actions of evil. Sleep is the play is constantly being disturbed; causing it to not be the restful sleep that one has come to know. A way that sleep is being disturbed was by all the terrible deeds occurring in the night, and that during the night one sees unnatural actions. Sleep is evil!

Show More
Related

  • A Long Way Gone Symbolism Essay

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ishmael’s nightmares are a strong reminder to the reader that the oppression of war has even robbed Ishmael of the simple freedom of sleep.

    Read More

  • Macbeth and His Mental Deterioration

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin with, Macbeth experiences many hallucinogenic episodes throughout the play. Macbeth begins to experience his first hallucinations before the first murder he commits. The murder of King Duncan is an inciting event in many ways, it helps Macbeth become King, it begins the Macbeth’s sleepless nights “Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more” (II.ii.55-56) and also the wo...

    Read More

  • Why Is Guilt Important In Macbeth

    1698 Words  | 4 Pages

    The imaginary voices he hears are an echo of his thoughts, and how he thinks that he will never not only sleep again, but rest his mind and soul, and be at peace. The voices that say that Macbeth has murdered sleep prove to be true: In act 5, scene 1, Lady Macbeth shows her guilt through her sleepwalking, while a doctor and a gentlewoman speak about her. They reveal that she has been sleepwalking for days. This proves that guilt plays a role in Macbeth by affecting the characters sleep. The phrase “Sleep it off” means that by sleeping, one’s troubles will become better, but this is the opposite for Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. They both endure the consequences of not sleeping well: their souls never get to rest, their guilt will stay with them. The dire repercussions of killing Duncan affect their minds: Macbeth hallucinates, and Lady Macbeth is driven to madness even in her sleep. Next, while Macbeth continues to ramble about these voices, and he speaks about the blood on his

    Read More

  • The Link between Creativity and Mental Disorder

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    an individual is overcome by sleep. It is during these times where the mind is

    Read More

  • relating death to sleep

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    Duncan’s death, which is one of the main events of the entire play and drives the plot for much of the story, is heavily associated with sleep. To top that, he is murdered in his sleep. Two quotes in particular exemplify this idea. The first is spoken by Macbeth right after he kills Duncan. “Sleep no more. Macbeth does murder sleep.” (45). this line does not mean that Macbeth literally murdered sleep. He killed Duncan who not only represents sleep but Duncan was also sleeping at the time of the murder. This reinforces the not everything is what it seems theme. The other quote that relates Duncan’s death to sleep is in Act III spoken with an envious tone by Macbeth yet again. He says, “In restless ecstasy Duncan is in his grave” (75). At first blush this quote is so confusing, what is restless ecstasy? In this quote Duncan is “sleeping” in his grave. But more importantly we see sleep and Duncan in a more positive light. Shakespeare is again reinforcing his not everything is what it seems theme because at first glance death may seem ba...

    Read More

  • Sleep Deprivation

    3833 Words  | 8 Pages

    Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive, however in the modern days sleep deprivation in increasing more and more each day, causing accidents and medical problems for the people and the community. This essay will look at the meaning of sleep and sleep deprivation and the basic perspectives on what motivates sleep and sleep deprivation with the five perspectives; evolutionary, psychodynamic, behaviourist, cognitive and the hierarchy of needs. This essay will also evaluate the best perspective to eliminate sleep deprivation with the cases studies discussing the general hypothesis of sleep and sleep deprivation.

    Read More

  • Macbeth Dead Butcher Analysis

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Macbeth’s royalness and self-confidence had made King Duncan believe in Macbeth to become a great leader one day. Duncan holds a great deal of amount of trust into Macbeth now. With Macbeth’s vaulting ambition, he has no choice now to kill Duncan and fulfill his ambition. Macbeth soon later kills Duncan with Duncan’s blood all over his hands. “Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.” (2.2.53-55). Macbeth has brought a great amount of guilt to himself. He feels that he will never sleep again because he destroyed

    Read More

  • Destruction Of Innocence And Guilt In Shakespeare's Macbeth

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Research has found that “Sleep deprivation negatively impacts our mood, our ability to focus, and our ability to access higher-level cognitive functions (brain mechanisms involved with thinking, reasoning, learning, and remembering)” (WGBH). Macbeth could no longer sleep after he killed Duncan, so he acted rashly and made decisions without thinking them through. Macbeth became so filled with paranoia and jealousy that he killed his best friend and tried to kill his best friend’s young son. Macbeth hallucinated Banquo’s ghost and started screaming with an entire crowd of people around, he clearly was not thinking properly. Macbeth also killed an entire family out of anger and betrayal, Macbeth even cursed the witches; he was obviously not using reasoning skills. To counter those who believe that Macbeth caused his own downfall, I remind you that your argument is invalid because he did not actively choose to kill, it was a combination of manipulation, mental illness, and sleep deprivation made him murder people. Macbeth even revealed “Better be with the dead…than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy” (Mac.3.2.1). Meaning, Macbeth would have rather been dead than alive, not exactly something a healthy person would

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Insomnia

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sleep, it is hard to live with it constantly robbing most people of about a third of their day, but it’s even harder to deal with the consequences of insomnia. We have all had a time where we couldn’t quite fall asleep one night, but for Macbeth this is a constant issue and in his waking hours he has to deal with this guilt that he has brought upon himself by murdering king Duncan. Insomnia causes a variety of problems in the victim to lose focus, impair social interactions, and other similar issues that ultimately hurt the victim or in Macbeth’s case he is the victim of his own decisions. Insomnia causes unimaginable issues for Macbeth in Macbeth; insomnia causes Macbeth to become isolated, to make thoughtless decisions and ultimately succumb to madness.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Guilt In Macbeth

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Towards the beginning of the play, Macbeth was told by three witches of his future as the Thane of Cawdor and as King of Scotland. Together, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth devised an evil plan to brutally murder King Duncan. In doing this, Macbeth was one step closer to his prophecy of being King coming true. Macbeth expressed guilt and second thoughts before he even did the deed, but after the murder is done is when his guilt really started to show. Immediately after, Macbeth heard voices saying “Macbeth shall sleep no more” (II.ii.22-43). The guilt would keep him awake forever and would continually eat away at him. He was so disgusted with himself that he couldn’t even put the daggers back at the scene of the crime (II.ii.51-53). Lady Macbeth, guilt free at the time, stepped in and did this for him. Guilt often causes people to lie, which is why Macbeth quickly reacted and killed the guards. Lady Macbeth attempted to cover for him and fainted as a distraction (II.iii.106). He couldn’t keep his thoughts straight and it ended ...

    Read More

  • Macbeth

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story of Macbeth is filled with murder, guilt, and stress. All of which causes tragedy in the play. The “dagger scene,” the “banquet scene” and the “sleep walking scene” are all important scenes of the play. The scenes display how stress can affect the human mind causing hallucinations and sleepwalking. Due to their sins, their consequences were heavy. Macbeth saw a floating dagger and a ghost, while Lady Macbeth would sleepwalk.

    Read More

  • Troubles Macbeth Faced

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this world a person is suffering from stress put on his shoulder. Due to the amount of stress, naturally a person cannot sleep with a mind empty of worries. Sometimes a person gets disconnected from God. The disconnection from God along with the increasing amount of stress and of lack of sleep could lead a person to depression and losing hope in life. In Macbeth, the leading character, Macbeth suffers the same symptoms with an over stressed person in real life. Moreover, these symptoms begin when Macbeth kills King Duncan. Therefore, after killing King Duncan Macbeth, the noble character, suffers from serious problems that lead him into losing the hope of living.

    Read More

  • Essay on Exploring Death in Death in Venice

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dreams play a major role in the story, and, throughout the history of literature, sleep has often been consid...

    Read More

  • The Themes of Macbeth

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    This theme is further verified by King Duncan's statement "There's no art/ To find the mind's construction in the face..." (Act 1, Scene 4, Lines 11-12) Although Macbeth has the semblance of the amicable and dutiful host, ("fair") he is secretly plotting Duncan's death ("foul").  Furthermore, Lady Macbeth's orchestration of the murder exemplifies the twisted atmosphere in Inverness.  Both a woman and a host, she should be the model of grace and femininity.  She is described, however, as a "fiendlike queen" (Act 5, Scene 6, Line 69) and exhibits a cold, calculating mentality.  In addition, the very porter of Inverness likens the place to the dwelling of the devil Beelzebub.  This implies that despite its "pleasant seat," (Act 1, Scene 6, Line 1) Inverness is a sinister and evil place.  It is also interesting to note that Macbeth is unable to say a prayer to bless himself after murdering Duncan.  It is strange and "foul" that he should think of religion after committing such an unholy act.  The very sanction of sleep and repose is also attacked in Macbeth.  What is normally considered a refreshing and necessary human activity is "murdered" by Macbeth after he commits his heinous crime.  Neither Macbeth nor his wife is able to sleep after killing Duncan.  Macbeth's lack of sleep makes him a brutal killer; Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and inadvertently reveals the source of her distress through her nightly babble.

    Read More

  • Sleeping and Dreaming

    4847 Words  | 10 Pages

    In 2004–2005, the Penn Humanities Forum will focus on the topic of “Sleep and Dreams.” Proposals are invited from researchers in all humanistic fields concerned with representations of sleep, metaphors used to describe sleep, and sleep as a metaphor in itself. In addition, we solicit applications from those who study dreams, visions, and nightmares in art or in life, and the approaches taken to their interpretation. We also welcome proposals about the effects of dreaming on the dreamer, and the resulting emotions, behaviors, and actions taken or foregone in response to dreams. In this Forum on Sleep and Dreams, we will see how the diversity of academic disciplines can help answer important questions about sleep and dreaming—questions that may touch the basis of human intellect.

    Read More

More about sleep

Open Document