Analysis

For my ENG3UN final project, I chose to create a blog talking about connections in my life to the theme or motif of sleep in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The day before doing my FSE, I reread the translated version of Macbeth, and was originally thinking of discussing the theme of “Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair” theme, but noticed how often the motif of sleep is used. Due to earlier experiences that week, I instantly made connections, and found that it would be far easier to blog about something that has impacted me so closely.

I was able to identify several main places in the text where sleep is referred to either as an important contributor to Macbeth and his wife’s downfall or as a metaphor. Sleep deprivation was arguably one of the main factors that contributed towards Macbeth’s inevitable fall. He, with the persuasion of his wife, Lady Macbeth, reached too far and was blinded by his own ambition. The paranoia, psychosis and inability to make good decisions, all caused by his inability to sleep due to his guilty conscience, led to his loss of sanity. Macbeth ‘s judgement became clouded and began to think the only way to preserve the progress he had made so far, was to kill even more people.

In my blog, I explore the ideas of the effect of sleep deprivation with some research I did on my own and my past experiences. The research I came across (see post titled After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well) matched very well to the symptoms Macbeth had. I can only imagine the effects of not sleeping for extended periods of time, especially with the burden of dealing with killing the king. Lady Macbeth put it quite aptly when she says, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep", meaning sleep as the preservative of the human mind. The week prior to writing my blog, I had slept very little myself, and had my own symptoms, some matching Macbeth’s.

Sleep is also referred earlier in the play, as “death’s counterfeit”, the “chief nourisher in life’s feast” and a “sore labor’s bath”. It is relief at the end of the day, and Macbeth is terrified after hallucinating voices that told him that he himself had murdered sleep, and sleep, he would have no more. I think that I do a very good job delving into these metaphors Shakespeare uses in Macbeth in my blog, and I found many other instance sleep is mentioned as an essential part of being human, and life.

Finally, one of the most important ways sleep is used as a metaphor, is during the third act when Lennox is told by a Scottish Lord, as long as the tyrannical, murderous Macbeth is on the throne, Scotland will have no “sleep to [it’s] nights”.

In conclusion, I explored the idea of sleep in Macbeth as a theme, motif and catalyst of Macbeth’s downfall, and justified the points with my own experiences and research. I found that I connected deeply with the many of the characters on the subject of sleep and the deprivation of sleep, and it helped me realize the deep-rooted need for rest and sleep, or otherwise face the dire consequences on my health and mind.

To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets

You see her eyes are open 

Ay, but their senses are shut. 

Out, damned spot!
Yet who would
have thought the old man to have had to much blood in
him? 

She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that.
Heaven knows what she has known. 

Here's the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of
Arabia will not sweeten this little hand 

Fould whisp'rings are abroad; unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. 

Until now, I have put most of my focus on Macbeth's slow degradation, as Lady Macbeth seemed as if incapable of feeling remorse or understanding the repercussions of her actions. However, sleep betrays her, and her guilty conscience is revealed in the first scene of final act. Lady Macbeth, who once insisted that one's conscience could be cleaned of murder with a simple rinse of water, scrubs at her hands desperately in an attempt of ridding herself of the tremendous burden of the deaths of Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff's wife and children. Lady Macbeth is not getting rest either, she simply relives the murder of Duncan night after night. Indeed, Macbeth does murder sleep.


In the final act, Lady Macbeth commits suicide, and at last she is at rest. Macbeth, deranged, wild and violent, dies also, and is at rest. Therefore, Scotland once again, can be at ease.

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I have not experience anything quite like what Macbeth and his wife have gone through, nothing close. So its a little difficult to connect with this. But I can say that I feel like the paranoia and sleep deprivation caused by Macbeth;s guilty conscience was the primary catalyst of the Tragedy of Macbeth. Perhaps, if he had thought it through, rested, and waited for the Witches' prophecies to come true on their own, he would have cemented his success for many generations. 

Macduff and Macbeth's last duel. (5.8)

Give to out tables meat, sleep to our nights

Towards the end of the play, Macbeth's situation becomes increasingly low. His subjects begin to suspect Macbeth of not only Banquo's assassination but of Duncan's as well. Lennox learns from a Scottish Lord of Macduff's journey to the English court to find help to put Malcolm, Duncan's eldest son, on the Scottish throne. Once that is done, the Scottish Lord says, Scotland will enjoy the blessing of peace so that, "We may again / Give our tables meat, sleep to our nights / free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives." (3.6.33-35)

In my first post I discussed the quote "Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep." As long as the tyrannical, corrupt Macbeth is in power and Duncan is not avenged,  Scotland will not rest.  This is the beginning of the hope for sleep and peace for Scotland. 

Macduff, the figure of morality in the twisted play of Macbeth, sets out on a mission to save his beloved Scotland, and is even more motivated after hearing of his family's massacre in Fife.

The massacre of the Macduff clan (4.2)

After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well

In Act III, the affects of Macbeth's conscience and sleeplessness begin to show. In order to cover up the murder of Duncan, and preserve what progress in status he has made so far, he thinks that he must assassinate Banquo and his son, Fleance. Until both are killed he believes he will never have any peace:

Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.(3.2.20-26)

It's better to be dead than to go through the agony which has become Macbeth's life. Here, "ecstasy" doesn't mean pleasure of any kind. It is referring to a trance or trance-like state in which an individual transcends normal consciousness, Macbeth is losing it after the mental torture and sleep deprivation. Macbeth has terrible dreams, can't sleep, and feels like he's going crazy. In Act 3, Scene 4, he says exasperated: "I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more / Returning were as tedious as go o'er." Macbeth is becoming the murderous tyrant described towards the end of the play.

At the end of the scene where the Ghost of Banquo, Lady Macbeth takes her husband aside and dismisses their guests. She calms him down and urges him to rest: "You lack the season of all natures, sleep" (3.4.140). In my Oxford School Shakespeare version of Macbeth, season is listed as meaning preservative. Lady Macbeth means to say that sleep is the preservative of human nature and reason, and that without it, any person will go insane.

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I did some research on the effects of sleep dept and deprivation:

http://www.art-of-lucid-dreaming.com/sleep-deprivation.html

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1690

Symptoms include (and are not limited to)

headaches memory loss confusion irritability impatience dizziness drowsiness aching muscles tremors slowed reaction time psychosis hyperactivity slurred speech

weakened immune system nausea constant yawning hallucinations symptoms of inebriation loss of concentration blurred vision weight loss or weight gain dark circles around the eyes depression hernia color blindness fainting

Last week, as I previously mentioned, I slept less than 12 hours out of 96 hours. I'm not bragging or anything silly like that, I just noticed significant changes in my behaviour. On the last day (Sleep Debt of 18 hours) I had a headache, experienced memory loss, I was confused, drowsy, couldn't concentrate and was sore all over. I was a miserable wreck, and the moment I got home, I slept 16 hours straight. I cannot even imagine going the length of time Macbeth did without sleep, and I certainly can see why he is losing his mind. From my experience, and Macbeth's, I have actually sworn to take better care of myself in the future, and hope that this past week will never repeat itself ever again... School is NOT worth my sanity.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the feast. (3.4)

Downy sleep, death's counterfeit

The third Scene of the second Act is the first of new Scotland: King Duncan is discovered to be dead. Macbeth's household and guests awake to Macduff's gruesome discovery of the king's "silver skin laced with his golden blood". 


Macduff is slowly allowed admittance to the castle by the Porter, who also happens to talk about sleep. Macduff then proceeds to awake the King, and it shocked by the sight that awaits him. 

Shake off this downy sleep, death’s counterfeit,
And look on death itself! Up, up, and see
The great doom’s image!
(2.3.51-53)

Here sleep is referred to as "pseudo-death", while sleep is "downy", comforting peace, death on the other hand is horrible. Sleep is the perfect escape from life, but death is the end of it.


Once again, sleep is used to describe vulnerability, this time in an emotional way. Banquo tells everyone to get dressed, and then examine the scene of the crime: "And when we have our naked frailties hid / That suffer in exposure, let us meet / And question this most bloody piece of work". Before examining the harsh reality of murder, the must change from their sleeping attire, and mentally prepare themselves for the horror before them.

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When I was a young child, I remember never wanting to go bed everyday, and count down the hours, and homework tasks, until I can rest my wearing head on my pillow. I'm sure many people have felt as thought dying a better option one time or another, myself included, and it is good to remember that sleep is a far better option. When life gives you lemons, don't bother with the lemonade. Take a nap! 


Sleep clears the mind, and prepares us to deal with the things we find most unpleasant.

Macduff discovers King Duncan's murder (2.3)

Macbeth shall sleep no more

In the scenes before and after the murder of King Duncan, there are many references to sleep. Guilt, fear, evil and murder all manifest themselves in the characters as the inability to sleep.

In the introduction of Act II, Banquo, while walking with his son Fleance, senses the impending murder of the King. He feels heavy "like lead" with exhaustion, yet cannot sleep. Macbeth then runs into Banquo, and after wishing on another a good night, Macbeth proceeds to the King's chamber. It is when he is alone, trying to gather his courage, he has his first hallucination of a dagger, pointing towards the room of Duncan. This is the first sign of Macbeth's degrading mental health.

After the murderous deed, Macbeth returns to his wife, nearly traumatized with what he has done, and claims he heard a voice cry:

Methought I heard a voice cry, “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.

Macbeth's paranoia has already begun to set in, and feels as if he will never rest in peace again, after murdering Duncan in cold blood. Sleep is described as knitting up skeins of care, perhaps this is a metaphor to say that when it seems as if we have endless problems, we should "sleep on it", to help put things into perspective. Macbeth also compares sleep to a soothing bath after a day of hard work, and to the main course of a feast. To Macbeth, sleep is not only a necessity of life, but something that makes life worth living, and he feels that when he murdered his King in his sleep, he murdered sleep itself.

The murder of Duncan will never rest with Macbeth's conscience, and it will slowly destroy him. 

Although Macbeth is a seasoned warrior, quite used to the blood and death of war, the murder of Duncan goes against all of his moral code. Duncan, an old, well-favoured king, is vulnerable, and asleep. He could not fight back: sleep is associated with vulnerability and innocence. 

This point can lead back to George Orwell's 1984, where sleep betrays the unconscious thoughts of an individual. After Macbeth murders the king, perhaps he feels he cannot trust himself to rest, in fear of betraying himself. This is relevant later again in the play, when Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk.

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Even though I haven't murdered anyone in their sleep, I can make personal connections to how Macbeth is feeling. It's hard to sleep when something bad has happened, or you are anticipating the next day. Often times it is difficult to put thoughts away for the night, even if we wish to "sleep on" important decisions in our lives. 

The unrest Banquo experiences is not a phenomenon known only to literature. Frenzied ants prior to a rainstorm, elephants moving away from coastlines before tsunamis, and Galapagos turtles moving away from volcanoes days before major eruptions. Maybe there is something to pathetic fallacy! Not a personal connection, but animals are cool. 

Macbeth and Banquo meet the Weird Sisters (1.3)

'Sleep no more: Macbeth does murder sleep'

There are two ways to interpret the title of my blog.


In the original text it is meant that Macbeth murdered sleep, sleep being the peaceful and prosperous reign of King Duncan. Macbeth ushers in a new violent era for Scotland. 


A few verses later, while Macbeth gives his wife an account of the murder he had just committed, he claimed a voice cried, "Glamis hath murder'd sleep', and therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more." Macbeth, through his paranoia will not rest, and as we find later in the play, no matter how many times they wash their hands, or cover their tracks with more blood, murder itself does not rest.


For my ENG3UN FSE blog, I will be studying the theme of sleep in Macbeth. Although subtle in comparison to themes such as Ambition, Violence and Prophesy, sleep is a recurring  motif and theme. It catalyzes the downfall of Macbeth. At a rough glance, it is mentioned over 8 times throughout the play.


How does this connect to my own life? Any student would agree, that sometimes a good night's sleep is sacrificed to study for that functions test or to finish that chemistry assignment. Just this past week, to study for tests and finish a biology project, I got less than 12 hours of sleep over the course of 4 days. The last night, I got no sleep whatsoever. The following day at the physics field trip, was to say the least, horrible. Thinking back, I can relate this experience and others, to Macbeth's increasingly erratic behaviour and paranoia.

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (1.1)