Essay | Macbeth Analysis on Sleep

A proverb once stated that 'crime never sleeps,' and this is the case with the characters in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's irregular sleep patterns symbolize their guilt, and they begin to feel that their crimes disturb them in a way that they cannot fix. Through motifs, the theme of guilt overtaking a person's life and corroding his/her conscience prevails in Macbeth.

After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth attempt to kill all the people that stand in their way to rule the land, their guilt fills their consciences and does not allow them to live normal lives. For instance, Lady and Macbeth cannot sleep virtuously after they do their evil deeds. Macbeth even hallucinates and believes that he hears a voice cry that he killed sleep when he explains, "Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep"--the innocent sleep? still it cried...
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