Macbeth Essay%5b1%5d

Ryan Thomas World Lit Honors Mrs. Sullivan April 13, 2007 Macbeth Hath Murdered Sleep Imagine a quiet, peaceful slumber after a hard day. Now, imagine never resting again, demons haunting you every time you fall asleep. Macbeth faces this exact fate throughout the play, and it drives him insane. Indeed, from the moment of Macbeth’s first act of evil, his murder of Duncan, sleep’s very nature reverses. When the characters sleep, they no longer experience a restorative, peaceful rest; instead, their minds force nightmares and unconscious torments upon them, steadily driving them mad with guilt and fear. Sleep, a naturally benign occurrence, becomes a fearful torture and a painful necessity. Shakespeare uses slumber throughout the play to reflect nature’s reversal – what was healthy is now hurtful. Also, the image of sleep appears as an act of foolishness, and unites the play by frequently reminding the audience “fair is foul and foul is fair.” From the time Macbeth murders Duncan in the very beginning of Act 2, sleep’s nature is reversed. On that night, Banquo tells his son that he cannot allow himself to sleep, as “cursed thoughts” haunt him in his dreams (2.1, 11). Soon, Macbeth realizes how completely nature is reversing itself; he says that “wicked dreams abuse/ the curtained sleep,” telling the audience nightmares haunt his previously restful slumber (2.1, 63). As he murders Duncan, Macbeth thinks he hears a voice crying, …‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’ – the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,

The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast (2.2, 52) Macbeth’s foul actions permanently destroy this cleansing element of life. For the rest of play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s reposes are haunted. Macbeth relates this in Act 3, saying how they “sleep/ In the affliction of these terrible dreams/ That shake us nightly (3.2, 22).” Then, in Act 5, Lady Macbeth appears for the last time. Her conscious, crushed under the weight of her evil deeds, traps her in tormented sleep (5.1). This putrid atrocity is what remains of sleep, because of Macbeth. Life’s “chief nourisher” becomes a torture through Macbeth’s evil deeds, in an ultimate reversal of nature. Apart from using it to show the reversal of nature, Shakespeare makes sleep an act of foolishness and vulnerability. In Act 1, Lady Macbeth tells us that Duncan’s slumber allows Macbeth to murder him easily (1.7, 82). Later, the porter at Inverness slumbers as a side effect of drunkenness, along with other unsavory consequences (2.3, 30). Later, Macduff warns the nobles to “shake off…downy sleep, death’s counterfeit (2.3, 88).” Their slumber made them vulnerable, as it did Duncan. Overall, sleep helps none of these men; instead, it hurts them, and therefore becomes a foolish act of weakness. Finally, sleep unites the play through its foul misuse. The Weird Sisters rob their victims of rest, and in doing so turn a gift of nature into an opportunity for torment (1.3, 22). Macbeth uses sleep in much the same way, as an opportunity to harm, when he kills Duncan in his sleep (2.1, 77). Lady Macbeth then abuses repose by taking advantage of the grooms’ unconsciousness to frame them for Duncan’s murder. (2.2, 73) Sleep also

becomes as a torment for the Macbeths because of their guilty consciences. All in all, slumber appears frequently to accent the play’s ever-present evil. Sleep’s nature undergoes a reversal in Macbeth, turning it into a dangerous, tormenting device, and its appearances effectively draw attention to the theme of “fair is foul and foul is fair” by its ill use. Shakespeare takes this innocuous act and makes it a perverse mockery of its natural purity, by showing the characters repeatedly damaged by sleep or its abuse. Imagery of slumber in Macbeth contributes a sense of connection to the play, as well as a sense of foreboding and ever-present evil, improving the play greatly and further completing its atmosphere.