Lady Macbeth's Downfall

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to feel a tremendous weight on your chest, or a dark, malformed figure standing at the foot of your bed. You can’t move or yell for help, you’re stuck in a nightmare even though you’re awake. Now imagine the inability to sleep altogether, the nightmares of your actions haunt your dreams to the point where you can no longer sleep at all. All of the scenarios stated are symptoms of a condition called narcolepsy, a disease in which sleep becomes a difficult task to complete, causing unrest, excessive daytime sleepiness, hallucinations, sleepwalking, and many other dangerous symptoms. These characteristics match that of Lady MacBeth from William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of MacBeth. In the play, the
iii. 19-20). The witches predict MacBeth’s inability to sleep and his eventual demise. While the quote refers to the character MacBeth, it holds true for Lady MacBeth also. According to the Narcolepsy and Overwhelming Daytime Sleep Society in Australia, “The principal symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), cataplexy (loss of muscle tone), hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, disrupted night-time sleep and automatic behaviour (being unaware of what you are doing). A person suffering from narcolepsy may have some or all of these symptoms”. MacBeth and his wife both suffer from chilling experiences exactly like the symptoms stated, including the hallucinations, disrupted sleep, and automatic behavior. Stress is also a key contributor to narcoleptic episodes. MacBeth finds himself guilty of murdering King Duncan before he commits the regicide. He stresses over the decision and begins to hallucinate a dagger in front of him. “It is the bloody business which informs, Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one, half-world, Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse, The curtained sleep”(II. i. 49-51). MacBeth reassures himself that the dagger is not real, only a vision due to his crime. His guilt is
After killing the King, MacBeth grows paranoid and begins to panic, “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” (II. ii. 35-40). MacBeth believes he had murdered sleep itself, and he may no longer be able to rest and heal. During this scene, Lady MacBeth questions his reasoning and maintains her control, however this may only be an illusion of security, as she is deteriorating with her husband. MacBeth also mentions, “Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep, In the affliction of these terrible dreams, That shake us nightly” (III. ii. 20-22). He references the nightmares that plague his nights and how he can no longer sleep. “People with narcolepsy may be wide awake, then suddenly fall asleep for a few seconds or a few minutes. At night, they may have fragmented, fitful sleep, and are often plagued by vivid, disturbing nightmares”. The scenes of MacBeth murdering his King repeat in his sleep so often that he can no longer rest in fear of his disloyalty and guilt. The same goes for Lady MacBeth as she was the accomplice and devised the plan to commit the