8/7/2019 MACBETH Sleepwalking Scene in Macbeth
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Sleepwalking Scene in Macbeth : Act I , Scene V
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The tragedy of Macbeth is known for shakespeares intuitive
insight into the working of the human
mind. Two grand figures are explored in this timeless tragedy,
Macbethand Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare
has drawnLady Macbeth as a loyal though misguided and misguiding
wife who for the fulfillment of her
husbands desire prayed to be nerved by unnatural access to
ferocity but ultimately suffers a crash offiner spirit due to
nemesis.
The Sleepwalking scene opens in the ante room in the Dunsiane
where a gentlewoman is seen in a
conversation with a doctor of physic discussing the
unnaturalness of the disease of Lady Macbeth. She
seems to be walking in her sleep and in the slumbery agitation,
performing various acts of
wakefulness, which as per the doctor isa great perturbation in
nature.
Lady Macbeths sonambulism is perhaps the outcome of her
revolting conscience. Once an apparently
strong woman who had called upon thick night to hide her deeds
has now ordered for a taper by her
side constantly; for she needs to dispel the darkness of fear as
well as the darkness of hell.
Therefore, She has light by her continuously; is her command
even when she would be asleep.
Moreover, in this state of sleepy wakefulness she would rub her
hands constantly. The gentlewomen
claims that she had known her continue in this a quarter of an
hour. Obviously, Lady Macbeth seems
to be recoiling from the revolting effort and the physical
horrors of the scenes of that night in the
sleepwalking scene.
Lady Macbeth says, Out damned spot! Out, I say ! One, two; dot
hell is murky ! - fie, my lord,
fie ! a soldier, and afeard ?. Such disjointed and incoherent
mutterings project the pathetic and
traumatic state that she is in. Her psychological (problems)
disorders corrode her pshycle.
Hence, three main reasons of Lady Macbeths delirium in the
Sleepwalking Scene can be characterized
as the more reproduction of the scenes that she has passed
through; the struggle to keep her husband
from betraying himself; and the uprising of her feminine nature
against the foulness of the deed.
Furthermore, we may add to this her fear of after death, Hell is
murky and her realization of
absolute moral deterioration of Macbeth for she has heard that
The thane of Fife had a wife, where
is she now.
The sleepwalking scene is highly dramatic in its revelation of
those very crimes which she had sought to
suppress. She unknowingly revels not only the murder of Duncan
but also that of Banquo. How ironic is
it that once she claimed, A little water clears us of this deed
and now she continually washes her
8/7/2019 MACBETH Sleepwalking Scene in Macbeth
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hands, a futile attempt to divest herself of the oppressive
guilt and painfully acknowledges, all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. The
doctortrue to the practice of his age
admits, This disease is beyond my practice and says, She needs
the divine more than the
physician. The statement of doctor carries high dramatic irony
and acts as a subtle reminder of the
power of king Edward, the confessor to heal diseases beyond the
scope of science . To conclude,
nemesis seems to have overtaken her.
The Sleepwalking scene is only scene in prose except the doctors
concluding lines which act as choric
commentary and brings the scene to effective conclusion. The
doctor even forsees that she would try
to bring her life to an end for he instructs to remove from her
means of all annoyance.
By the end of the Sleepwalking Scene, we no longer consider Lady
Macbeth to be an awful instigator.
The scene projects her feminine nature and wins our sympathy
over her piteous state. We are made to
believe that she had been suppressing her true nature and her
suffering forces us to suspend our
judgement over her crimes. Her concluding words remind us of
Macduffs knocking and
that Macbethcannot sleep in bed and she cannot find true rest in
her sleep. To conclude, we can only
repeat with the doctor God, God forgive us all.
