Another previouse english essay about Macbeth and if true peace can be obtained by evil. |
Is sleep only for the innocent? Will those who have guilt ever find the peace that is in slumber? These are questions one may ask while reading the play “Macbeth”. My theory is that a character can not experience a peaceful rest while asleep as soon as they act in some way that would cause them to feel guilt. Through some examples, I intend to prove that sleep is used as the symbol of innocence in this script. The various victims and murderers throughout the scenes all have different experiences with sleep, each connected with the innocence or guilt of the characters. One character murdered by Macbeth is King Duncan. Though Duncan did nothing to deserve the wrath of Macbeth, he is killed in the home of his host on the first night of his stay. This helpless old man’s life is cut so short; he does not really have a chance to do much of anything in the plot. Therefore we can label him as an “innocent” character. Duncan was murdered while he was in his most innocent state of all, sleep. This creates a rather pathetic image of an elderly king, sound asleep, completely unprotected and unaware of the impending danger. And this is the target of Macbeth, a man in the prime of his life armed with a dagger and a bloodlust that can only be sated with the death of the king. After the deed was done, Macbeth thought that he had heard a voice say: “Sleep no more!/Macbeth does murder sleep!”(II.ii.47-48). Can this voice be talking about not only sleep, but the image of innocence as well? If so, then Macbeth does not only murder sleep, but all of the innocents that stand in his way. Before Duncan is murdered, Macbeth has a brief lapse in confidence, and wonders weather or not he is doing the right thing. Lady Macbeth is outraged that he would betray her like this and immediately launches into a verbal assault designed to sway her husband back to her way of thinking. She asks: “Was the hope drunk/wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?” (I.vii.38-39). This is a clever metaphor comparing Macbeth’s courage from last night to a drunk, where in the morning all that is left is a shadow of a man and a sickly hangover. In a way Lady Macbeth has a good point, but not for the reason she thinks. She believes that Macbeth is backing out because of fear, while really, he is just thinking more clearly after a good nights sleep. The other day, he had been under much pressure from Lady Macbeth, but away from her influence, he realizes in the morning what a risk they were taking. Were his evil thoughts of murder cleansed from his head because of his time asleep, only to be brought back as the day wore on? This may have been his last fearless night before his innocence left him forever. His brief moment of humanity could have been brought on by nothing more than a good long nap. In some cases, those who we consider to have an innocent agenda also have trouble sleeping, as is the case with Banquo the night of the murder. He dreamt the previous evening of the three witches and their prophecies, and feared falling asleep again for fear of his reoccurring nightmare. When he says: “Restrain me in the cursed thoughts that nature/gives way to in repose!”(II.i.9-10), it shows the audience that Banquo may not be entirely innocent as we have been led to believe so far. He too, has been having guilty thoughts, possibly about his son’s generation taking the thrown after Macbeth’s supposed reign is over. And now he can not rest because of these thoughts that turn into nightmares of the weird sisters while he sleeps, where he can not hide his true feelings. Lord and Lady Macbeth were both pretending to be asleep when Macduff came knocking on their gate, so that “least occasion call us and show us to be watchers” (II. ii.89-90). This alibi would give them the impression of innocence, as sleeping hosts do not murder their kings. Also, the guards outside of Duncan’s room were drugged so that they were asleep when his body was found. Their being asleep is a perfect symbol of their utter innocence in the affair, though it did them little good. At least they did not know that they had just been framed for killing the King whom they were guarding. My last two points deal with when the guilty characters try to sleep. Lord Macbeth knows that he and his wife are both having nightmares about Duncan, and is reminding her that the war isn’t one yet. He’s worried that they will be consumed by guilt and fears that there are still some loose ends to be tied, “Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of those terrible dreams that shake us nightly”(III.ii.19-22). Macbeth is obviously a character who we can be called ‘guilty’, and it is even more so plain when he too, is having bad dreams. And then there is Lady Macbeth, whose guilt is quickly tearing away at her sanity, starting with her most vulnerable state of mind, unconsciousness. While she is asleep, all of her fears and guilt come rushing back to her full force, and she finely lets her true feelings show while she sleep walks. When Lord Macbeth hires a physician to heal her, he states: “She is troubled with thick coming fancies that keep her from her rest.”(V.iii.44-45). She is unable to sleep in peace because of all of her guilt of the things that she and Macbeth have done. All of which she has kept bottled up behind false confidence. All in all, There are only three human characters in the play who are; as far as we know, not having trouble sleeping because of some horribly consuming guilt. King Duncan and his two guards, who are now all dead. The three witches, though not human, also seem oblivious to nightmares, (though in my opinion they would enjoy nightmares if they like all things horrid, as proved in each of their appearances on stage). Everyone else seems to have done or thought something that compromises his or her innocence, affecting their sleeping habits, until they all die, which is as close to peace as they are going to get. |