Sleeping Disorders In Macbeth

To Sleep or not to Sleep
The most common types of sleep disorders are hallucinations, insomnia, sleepwalking, and poor sleep resulting from nightmares may be associated with posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD (“Sleep Disorders”). In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, sleep disorders such as hallucinations, insomnia, and sleepwalking are used to portray how the guilt of murder plagues Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth demonstrating how the consequences of their crimes are ultimately fatal.
Being well known for his ferociousness on the battle field, the Thane of Cawdor has killed many of men in war but somehow his conscience is still clear because he must kill to keep his country safe. Macbeth feels no remorse for killing the amount of men he has in battle, he is seemingly content with his life until three devious witches reveal the prophecy of him becoming the King of Scotland. Unfortunately there is already a king, Macbeth’s cousin and good friend Duncan, and the only way for Macbeth to become king is for Duncan to die. Once Lady Macbeth learns about the prophecy she begins to plot how the two will murder Duncan, and though her plan will ultimately lead to her and her husband’s self-destruct, it seems as though she feels no shame at all. However, Macbeth struggles with his morality about
While sleep walking she is reenacts the moments before she and Macbeth kill Duncan, which establishes that guilt is creating chaos on her conscience and she feels remorseful about what they’ve done. Lady Macbeth also dreams that her hands are covered with blood that will not come off “Out damned spot, out I say!” she says as she continues to scrub her hands “What, will these hands ne’er be clean” (Shakespeare 5.1. ). She goes from being the dominant and scheming spouse, to going insane with guilt. Eventually Lady Macbeth’s endless remorse forces her to commit suicide and rids her of her